News From

THE VERMONT CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION

Mon., Aug. 5, 2002                                          

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Signup Launched
For Payments To Vermont Dairy Farmers
Under New National Dairy Program

Vermont Farmers Also Slated To Receive
$872,000 For Conservation

(Mon. Aug. 5) – Dairy farmers in Vermont and across the nation will be able to sign up to participate in the new national dairy program starting Aug.13.  The dairy program, championed by the Vermont Congressional Delegation and authorized by this year’s farm bill, is modeled after the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact that expired last year on Sept. 30. 

Payments should be in producers’ hands within 60 days after the end of each month for which a payment is due.  For example, producers signing up in August can expect to receive their first payments by October.  Under terms included in the law at the insistence of the Vermont Congressional Delegation, payments will be made retroactively, covering production and low prices since Dec.1, 2001.  The new program compensates dairy farmers whenever the price of Class I fluid milk falls below $16.94 per hundred weight (cwt.) in Boston.  On Dec. 1 the price of milk dropped below that trigger level and has continued to fall. 

A producer’s initial payment will cover the current month plus the retroactive period.  For example, a producer signing up in August will receive an initial payment of up to $25,000 (covers from Dec. 1, 2001 to Aug. 31, 2002).  Payments for later months will be made on a monthly basis.

Once enrolled in the program -- dubbed the “Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program” by USDA -- producers will be eligible to receive payments through Sept. 30, 2005.  Payments will be made on an operation-by operation basis, up to a maximum of 2.4 million pounds of eligible production per fiscal year.  According to USDA, producers will be able to select the month during each fiscal year they want to start receiving payments for eligible production.

Program participants will be required to certify that their farming operations are in compliance with the “sodbuster” and ”swampbuster” conservation requirements established under the Food Security Act of 1985. 

“Milk prices are still falling, and dairy farmers need these payments now more than ever,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and a conferee on the farm bill who led efforts in the conference for the new national dairy program.  “We fought hard to make the new program retroactive, and these catch-up payments are going to be the lifelines that will help many farmers pull through.”

Sen. Jim Jeffords, said he was encouraged that the USDA plans to begin the sign-up period. "These payments can't come soon enough.  Prices have yet to rebound from their precipitous fall last December, leaving many farmers teetering on the edge," Jeffords said.  "Simply put, if farmers don't receive their retroactive payments soon, the auctioneers will be busy."

Congressman Bernie Sanders, who introduced legislation in the House that eventually became the National Dairy Program said, “At a time of disastrously low milk prices, these payments will be the difference between life and death for thousands of dairy farms in Vermont and throughout the country.  This legislation is an important step forward, but much more needs to be done if we are going to preserve family-based agriculture in our country.”

Producers can sign up for the new dairy program by going to their local USDA Farm Service Agency offices.  [Attached is a list of USDA offices in Vermont that includes the telephone number and address for each office.]

Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman on Monday made the announcement that USDA will begin implementing the new dairy program.  She also announced conservation funds, authorized in this year’s farm bill, to be distributed to states.  Vermont will receive an additional $872,570 under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) for this fiscal year. 

EQIP is a federal program that helps farmers and ranchers deal with environmental problems resulting from agriculture runoff.  The EQIP program enables them to protect water quality through nutrient management, erosion control, manure storage and other methods. 

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Attached: List of local USDA offices in Vermont
                Retroactive payment chart

Vermont Farm Service Agency

State Office
356 Mountain View Drive, Suite 104
Colchester, VT 05446
(802) 658-2803
Fax (802) 660-0953

County Offices

Addison                                                           Caledonia/Essex
1590 Route 7 South, Suite 1                             1153 Main Street, Suite 1
Middlebury, VT 05753-8997                           St. Johnsbury, VT 05819
(802) 388-6748                                               (802) 748-2641
Fax (802) 388-3709                                        Fax (802) 748-4999

Chittenden/Washington                                      Franklin/Grand Isle
600 Blair Park, Suite 220                                 27 Fisher Pond Road, Suite 2
Williston, VT 05495-7529                                St. Albans, VT 05478-6274
(802) 879-4785 or 879-0615                          (802) 527-1296
Fax (802) 879-3920                                        Fax (802) 524-4575

 Lamoille                                                           Orleans
109 Professional Drive, Suite 2                         59 Waterfront Plaza
Morrisville, VT 05661                                      Newport, VT 05855-4877
(802) 888-4935                                               (802) 334-6090
Fax (802) 888-8901                                        (802) 334-1365

 Rutland/Bennington                                           Windham
170 South Main Street, Suite 4                         28 Vernon Street, Suite 1
Rutland, VT 05701-4559                                 Brattleboro, VT 05302
(802) 775-8969 or 775-8034                          (802) 254-9766
Fax (802) 773-4177                                        (802) 254-3307

Windsor/Orange
28 Farmvu Drive
White River Jct., VT 05001
(802) 295-7942
Fax (802) 296-3654

Retroactive Payment Chart