Milk Loss Program (MLP)

Background

The MLP is part of FSA’s implementation 

of the Extending Government Funding and 

Delivering Emergency Assistance Act (Pub. L. 

117-43), which provides $10 billion for crop 

losses, including milk losses, that occurred 

in calendar years 2020 and 2021 due to 

qualifying disaster events. Additionally, the 

Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations 

Act, 2023 (Pub. L. 117-328) provides $3 

billion for disaster assistance for similar crop 

losses, including milk losses, that occurred in 

calendar year 2022. 

Overview

The Milk Loss Program allows eligible dairy 

operations to receive payments for milk 

that was dumped or removed without 

compensation from the commercial milk 

market due to qualifying weather events 

that inhibited the delivery of milk or the 

storage of milk due to disaster events for 

the 2020, 2021 and 2022 calendar years. 

Eligibility

MLP compensates dairy operations for 

milk that was dumped or removed, without 

compensation, from the commercial milk 

market due to qualifying weather events 

and the consequences of those weather 

events that inhibited delivery or storage of 

milk (e.g., power outages, impassable roads, 

infrastructure losses, etc.) during calendar 

years 2020, 2021 and 2022.  

Qualifying disaster events include droughts, 

wildfires, hurricanes, floods, derechos, 

excessive heat, winter storms, freeze 

(including a polar vortex) and smoke 

exposure that occurred in the 2020, 2021 

and 2022 calendar years. Tornadoes are 

considered a qualifying disaster event for 

calendar year 2022 only.    

The milk loss claim period is each calendar 

month that milk was dumped or removed 

from the commercial market. Each MLP 

application covers the loss in a single 

calendar month. Milk loss that occurs in 

more than one calendar month due to the 

same qualifying weather event requires 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 restarts milk marketing, the 

dairy operation is ineligible for assistance 

unless after restarting commercial milk 

marketing, additional milk is dumped due 

to the same qualifying disaster event. The 

duration of yearly claims is limited to 30 

days per year for 2020, 2021 and 2022. 

For More Info

Additional USDA disaster 

assistance information 

can be found on farmers. 

gov, including the 

Protection and Recovery 

Page, Disaster Assistance 

Discovery Tool, Disasterat-a-Glance fact sheet, 

and Loan Assistance Tool.

For FSA and Natural 

Resources Conservation 

Service programs, 

producers should contact 

their local USDA Service 

Center. For assistance with 

a crop insurance claim, 

producers and landowners 

should contact their crop 

insurance agent.

September 2023 xx.fsa.usda.gov fsa.usda.gov
Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) 2

How to Apply

To apply for MLP, producers must 

submit all of the following: 

• FSA-376, Milk Loss Program 

Application 

• Milk marketing statement from 

the: 

o Month prior to the month milk 

was removed or dumped. 

o Affected month. 

• Detailed written statement of 

milk removal circumstances, 

including the weather event 

type and geographic scope, 

what transportation limitations 

occurred and any information on 

what was done with the removed 

milk. 

If not previously filed with FSA, 

applicants must also submit all the 

following items within 60 days of the 

MLP application deadline: 

• Form AD-2047, Customtter Data 

Worksheet.

• Form CCC-902, Farm Operating 

Plan for an individual or legal 

entity.

• Form CCC-901, Member 

Information for Legal Entities (if 

applicable).

• Form FSA-510, Request for 

an Exception to the $125,000 

Payment Limitation for Certain 

Programs (if applicable).

• Form CCC-860, Socially 

Disadvantaged, Limited Resource, 

Beginning and Veteran Farmer or 

Rancher Certification, applicable 

for the program year or years for 

which the producer is applying for 

the Milk Loss Program.

• A highly erodible land 

conservation (sometimes 

referred to as HELC) and wetland 

conservation certification (Form 

AD-1026 Highly Erodible Land 

Conservation (HELC) and Wetland 

Conservation (WC) Certification) for 

the MLP producer and applicable 

affiliates.

MLP Payment 

Calculation

The final MLP payment is determined by 

factoring the MLP payment calculation 

by the applicable MLP payment 

percentage. 

The calculation for determining MLP 

payment is: 

• (Base period per cow average daily 

milk production x the number of 

milking cows in a claim period x the 

number of days milk was dumped in 

a claim period) ÷ 100 x pay price per 

hundredweight (cwt.). 

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender. September 2023 xx.fsa.usda.gov fsa.usda.gov

Milk Loss Program (MLP)
Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) 3

For MLP payment calculations, the milk 

loss base period is the first full month 

of production before the dumping or 

removal occurred. 

The MLP payment percentage will 

be 90% for underserved producers, 

including beginning, limited resource, 

and veteran farmers and ranchers and 

75% for all other producers.    

To qualify for the higher payment 

percentage, eligible producers 

must have a CCC-860, Socially 

Disadvantaged, Limited Resource, 

Beginning and Veteran Farmer or 

Rancher Certification, form on file with 

FSA for the applicable program year.   

Payment Limitation 

and Adjusted Gross 

Income 

Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) limitations 

do not apply to MLP, however 

the payment limitation for MLP is 

determined by the person’s or legal 

entity’s average adjusted gross farm 

income (income derived from farming, 

ranching and forestry operations). 

Specifically, a person or legal entity, 

other than a joint venture or general 

partnership, cannot receive, directly 

or indirectly, more than $125,000 in 

payments under MLP if their average 

adjusted gross farm income is less 

than 75% of their average AGI or more 

than $250,000 if their adjusted gross 

farm income is at least 75% of their 

average AGI.

The relevant tax years for establishing 

a producer’s AGI are:

• 2016, 2017, and 2018 for 

program year 2020

• 2017, 2018, and 2019 for 

program year 2021

• 2018, 2019, and 2020 for 

program year 2022

To request the increased payment 

limitation, participants must file form 

FSA-510 complete with participant’s 

certification their average adjusted 

gross farm income is at least 75 

percent of their average AGI and a 

certification from a Licensed Certified 

Public Accountant (CPA) or Attorney 

that the participant meets the 

requirements.

Attribution of payments apply to 

MLP and payments to a legal entity 

are tracked through four levels of 

ownership, attributed, and limited 

to persons or legal entities that hold 

an ownership interest in the legal 

entity. For more information, see the 

Direct Attribution information on the 

Payment Limitations web page.

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Milk Loss Program (MLP)