The American Relief Act, 2025, provides up to $1.65 million in Milk Loss Program (MLP) payments to eligible dairy operations for milk that was dumped or removed without compensation from the commercial milk market because of a qualifying weather event in 2023 and/or 2024.
Dairy operations that dumped or removed milk, without compensation, from the commercial milk market due to a qualifying weather event that impacted the delivery or storage of milk (e.g., power outages, impassable roads, infrastructure losses, etc.) during calendar years 2023 and 2024 may be eligible for assistance.
Qualifying disaster events include droughts, wildfires, hurricanes, floods, derechos, excessive heat, tornadoes, excessive moisture, winter storms, freeze (including a polar vortex) and smoke exposure that occurred in 2023 and/or 2024.
MLP Payment Calculation:
The MLP payment is determined by factoring the MLP payment calculation by the 75% MLP payment percentage
The calculation for determining MLP payments is:
(Base period per cow average daily milk production x (times) the number of milking cows in a claim period x (times) the number of days milk was dumped in a claim period) ÷ (divided by) 100 x (times) pay price per hundredweight (cwt.).
For payment calculations, the milk loss base period is the first full month of production before milk was dumped or removed.
If program participation exceeds the $1.65 million in available MLP funding, payments will be prorated based on the sum of eligible payments and available funds.
- Nov. 24, 2025: Sign-up begins
- January 23, 2026: Sign-up ends
To apply for MLP, producers must complete and submit the following to their local FSA county office:
- FSA-376, Milk Loss Program Application
- Milk Marketing Statement from:
- The month prior to the month milk was removed or dumped
- Affected month
- Detailed written statement of milk removal circumstance, including the weather event type and geographic scope, what transportation limitations occurred and any information on what was done with the removed milk.
In addition to filing the MLP application, producers must have additional forms on file with FSA as listed at the bottom of this page.
The MLP application, supporting documentation, and required eligibility forms can be returned to local FSA county offices by one of the following methods:
• In-person
• Electronically using Box and One-span
• Email
• Fax
• Visit a local FSA county office to request an application.
The milk loss claim period is each calendar month when milk was dumped or removed from the commercial market. Each MLP application covers the loss in a single calendar month. Producers with milk losses that occurred in more than one calendar month due to the same qualifying weather event must submit a separate application for each month.
The days that are eligible for assistance begin on the date the milk was removed or dumped and for concurrent days milk was removed or dumped. Once the dairy operation restarted milk marketing, the dairy operation is ineligible for assistance unless, after restarting commercial milk marketing, additional milk was dumped due to the same qualifying disaster event.
The yearly claims are limited to 30 days per year for 2023 and 2024.
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Form AD-2047, Customer Data Worksheet.
Form CCC-901, Member Information for Legal Entities (if applicable).
Form CCC-902, Farm Operating Plan for an individual or legal entity.
Form CCC-943, 75 percent of Average Gross Income from Farming, Ranching, or Forestry Certification (if applicable)
AD-1026, Highly Erodible Land Conservation (HELC) and Wetland Conservation (WC) Certification
Additional Required Forms
No. Only milk dumped in calendar years 2023 and 2024 that was dumped due to weather events where no payment was received, or partial payment was received for the dumped milk.
No. Milk dumped due to antibiotics is not eligible.
No. Milk dumped to H5N1 is not eligible. Producers should ask FSA about assistance through the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program.
Eligible weather events include drought, wildfires, hurricanes, floods, excessive heat, winter storms, freeze, polar vortex, severe moisture, tornadoes and smoke exposure.
No. A federal disaster declaration is not required to be eligible for MLP.
The dairy operation will need to review the marketing statement for the applicable month and determine if pounds of milk production were recorded for each milk pick up. If they are recorded on the marketing statement they were most likely paid for the dumped milk.
MLP determines the average daily milk production for the month proceeding the month milk was dumped as the base period. The average daily milk production from the base period is multiplied by the number of days milk was dumped in the claim period and multiplied by the number of cows in the dairy operation’s herd.
The milk marketing statement is required to be provided when the MLP application is submitted, which provides the gross payment price for the applicable month. The net payment price the affected dairy operation received is determined by deducting the hauling rate fee by cwt and the $0.15 promotion fee deduction from the gross payment price.
The MLP eligible period begins on the day milk was dumped or removed and not marketed on the commercial market and ends on the day milk was last dumped or removed.
If insurance paid for part of the value of the dumped milk, MLP will provide an additional payment up to the fair market value of the dumped milk.
Yes. The following forms must be completed if not already on file with FSA: AD-2047, CCC-901, CCC-902, FSA-510 if applicable, and AD-1026
Yes. MLP payments are factored by a 75 percent factor.
For 2025 MLP, limited funding is available. Consequently, payments will not be processed until the end of application period deadline, once it is determined if sufficient funding is available to pay all applications. A prorated factor will be applied if there is a funding shortfall.