WASHINGTON, D.C. — Eligible dairy producers who suffered production losses from 2005-07 may apply to receive benefits under the Dairy Disaster Assistance Program III. DDAP-III will help dairy producers recover production losses resulting from a variety of adverse weather conditions in the last few years.<br>
Producers can sign up at local USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) service centers until May 5, when sign-up will end. This dairy program will provide $16 million in benefits to dairy producers for dairy production losses that occurred between Jan. 1, 2005, and Dec. 31, 2007, because of natural disasters.<br>
It compensates producers for production losses that resulted from lost herds or dumped milk when dairy plants closed or the natural disaster damaged containment equipment. Additionally, power outages, fuel shortages and infrastructure damage may have temporarily interrupted the flow of dairy products to markets.
To be eligible, a farm must be in a county designated a major disaster or emergency area by the President or declared a natural disaster area by the USDA between Jan. 1, 2005, and Dec. 31, 2007. <br>
Producers in contiguous counties are also eligible. Producers in counties declared disaster areas by the President may be eligible, even though the agricultural loss was not covered by the declaration, if an FSA Administrator’s Physical Loss Notice covered such losses.<br>
In order to receive benefits, producers must have produced and marketed milk any time between Jan. 1, 2005, and Feb. 28, 2007; suffered dairy production losses attributed to the declared natural disaster during the eligible period in an approved area; and provide proof of the average number of cows in the herd and the annual milk production commercially marketed by all persons in the eligible dairy operation for the base period of the 2003 and 2004 calendar years.<br>
Producers are required to provide proof of their operation’s marketing and production history in order to computer production losses. Such proof includes proof of the operation’s commercial production including any dairy herd inventory records for the base period as well as the disaster claim period; proof that the losses were related to the disaster declaration issued and occurring in an eligible county; certification of the average number of cows in the herd for the bases period and disaster claim period; and additional documentation as needed.<br>
Producers must also provide proof of production history based on milk marketing statements obtained from the dairy operation’s milk handler or marketing cooperative including tank records, milk handler records, daily milk marketings, and copies of payments received in order to confirm or adjust losses incurred by the operation.<br>
Loss calculations will be bases on a comparison of the expected base annual production and the actual production during the applicable disaster claim year. This calculation method marks a change from the original proposed rules, which calculated individual operation losses against the state average.<br>
This change may help address concerns of producers such as Mark Yeazel, of Eaton, Ohio, who expressed concerns with the original proposed rules.<br>
“The truth is, for any dairyman in any state, if you produce higher than the state average, you are not eligible, even if you lost 20 percent of your production due to drought or disaster,” said Yeazel regarding the originally proposed rules for the program. “If you are less than state average, and you increase 10 percent, you still could be eligible for assistance. It is not a good program, nor is it fairly distributed. It looks great on paper until you read the fine details.”<br>
The shift of the program’s rules to basing production losses on individual records rather than the state average should help address this concern, but it does not address other concerns of farmers like Yeazel in regards to added expenses they incur to maintain production during periods of drought.<br>
 “What does a good dairyman do today if he is in a drought?” Yeazel asked. “He buys feed from somewhere else, so the impact of the drought is minimized. No where in this assistance package does it ask if you had to purchase more feed to maintain production.”<br>
When Yeazel contacted his FSA office in the early sign-up period for this program, he said his office was quick to point out that no one in his county (Preble County, Ohio) would benefit from the program.<br>
FSA began enrolling producers in DDAP-III in late 2007 and early 2008, then temporarily halted sign-up pending the completion of rulemaking which began with the issuance of a proposed rule for public comments on the program. <br>
Based on public comments, FSA made minor changes to the proposed DDAP-III rules. These changes are explained in the final DDAP-III regulations.<br>