On February 7, 2014 the President signed The 2014 Farm Bill into law this farm bill allows the following: The continuation of MILC program benefits from September 1, 2013, through the earlier of September 1, 2014, or the date on which the Dairy Margin Protection Program provisions take effect.
September 2013 was the last eligible month for MILC payments under the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. The payment rates determined for October 2013 through January 2014 was $0. Payments for subsequent months will be determined as data becomes available
Because the 2014 Farm Bill was signed after the start of FY 2014, producers were not able to make timely start month selections for FY 2014, according to normal start month selection provisions. Therefore, a relief period has been authorized to allow MILC participants to make start month selections for FY 2014 during the authorized relief period. MILC contracts are automatically extended for FY 2014, so there is no need for producers to re-enroll in MILC. The production start month previously selected by an operation is applicable for FY 2014. However, a relief period has been authorized to allow MILC participants to change their start month selections because producers were not able to make timely start month selections for FY 2014, County Offices may accept FY 2014 production start month selection changes on CCC-580M, during the period beginning April 14, 2014, through COB May 30, 2014. CCC-580’s may also be accepted during the relief period for producers with new dairy operations that began operation before April 14, 2014. This relief period is limited to FY 2014 production start month selections only, and new producers that started a dairy operation since October 1, 2013.
During the authorized relief period, the production start month selected may be any month in FY 2014 and start month selection provisions do not apply. If the MILC participant already has October or any other month selected as the production start month for the dairy operation for FY 2013, and wants to continue with that selection for FY 2014 no changes need to be made.
For information about MILC contact your county or regional USDA FSA office.
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