Title: Dairy Farm Sustainability Act of 2018
Policy area: Agriculture and Food

Summary:
Dairy Farm Sustainability Act of 2018
This bill amends the Agricultural Act of 2014 to establish a Dairy Farm Sustainability Price Loss Coverage Program. Dairy operations that enter into contracts under the program are eligible to receive payments from the Department of Agriculture (USDA) when milk prices fall below the minimum milk price.
The bill specifies that the minimum milk price is $23.34 per hundredweight of milk and requires USDA to adjust the limit for inflation for each half of each calendar year.
The bill also reauthorizes the existing Dairy Margin Protection Program through 2023. (The program is a voluntary program that makes payments to participating dairy operations when a formula-based national margin [the difference between the national all milk price and the national average feed cost] falls below a producer-selected insured margin.)

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2555 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2555

   To amend the Agricultural Act of 2014 to establish the Dairy Farm 
  Sustainability Price Loss Coverage Program, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 14, 2018

Mrs. Gillibrand introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Agricultural Act of 2014 to establish the Dairy Farm 
  Sustainability Price Loss Coverage Program, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Dairy Farm Sustainability Act of 
2018''.

SEC. 2. DAIRY FARM SUSTAINABILITY PRICE LOSS COVERAGE PROGRAM.

    Part I of subtitle D of title I of the Agricultural Act of 2014 is 
amended by inserting after section 1408 (7 U.S.C. 9058) the following:

``SEC. 1408A. DAIRY FARM SUSTAINABILITY PRICE LOSS COVERAGE PROGRAM.

    ``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Contracting dairy operation.--The term `contracting 
        dairy operation' means a participating dairy operation that 
        enters into a contract under subsection (b)(1).
            ``(2) Minimum milk price.--The term `minimum milk price' 
        means $23.34 per hundredweight of milk, as adjusted by the 
        Secretary for each half of each calendar year to reflect 
        changes in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers 
        published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department 
        of Labor.
            ``(3) Payment quantity.--The term `payment quantity' means 
        the payment quantity established for a contracting dairy 
        operation under subsection (c)(3).
    ``(b) Contracts.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall offer to enter into 
        a contract with a participating dairy operation under which the 
        participating dairy operation may receive payments under 
        subsection (c).
            ``(2) Signup.--The Secretary shall offer to enter into 
        contracts under paragraph (1) during the period that a dairy 
        operation may register to participate in the margin protection 
        program established under section 1404(b).
            ``(3) Duration of contracts.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Except as provided in 
                subparagraph (B), a contract entered into under 
                paragraph (1) shall cover milk marketed by the 
                contracting dairy operation during the period beginning 
                on the first day of the month during which the contract 
                is entered into and ending on December 31, 2023.
                    ``(B) Violations.--If a contracting dairy operation 
                violates a contract entered into under paragraph (1), 
                the Secretary may--
                            ``(i) terminate the contract and allow the 
                        contracting dairy operation to retain any 
                        payments received under the contract; or
                            ``(ii) allow the contract to remain in 
                        effect and require the contracting dairy 
                        operation to repay a portion of the payments 
                        received under the contract, based on the 
                        severity of the violation.
    ``(c) Payments.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall provide to a 
        contracting dairy operation a payment for a month under this 
        subsection and not under the margin protection program if the 
        amount of the payment to the contracting dairy operation for 
        that month under this section is greater than the amount that 
        the contracting dairy operation would receive under the margin 
        protection program.
            ``(2) Amount.--The amount of a payment to a contracting 
        dairy operation under this subsection shall be equal to the 
        product obtained by multiplying, as determined by the 
        Secretary--
                    ``(A) the payment quantity during the applicable 
                month;
                    ``(B) the difference obtained by subtracting--
                            ``(i) the minimum milk price; and
                            ``(ii) the `All Milk' price per 
                        hundredweight under the applicable Federal milk 
                        marketing order; and
                    ``(C) 45 percent.
            ``(3) Payment quantity.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B), the 
                payment quantity for a contracting dairy operation for 
                a month shall be equal to the hundredweight of milk 
                marketed by the contracting dairy operation during the 
                month.
                    ``(B) Limitation.--The payment quantity described 
                in subparagraph (A) for any month for a contracting 
                dairy operation shall not exceed 4,166 hundredweight of 
                milk.
            ``(4) Timing of payments.--The Secretary shall make a 
        payment to a contracting dairy operation under this subsection 
        not later than 60 days after the last day of the month for 
        which the payment is made.''.

SEC. 3. EXTENSION OF MARGIN PROTECTION PROGRAM FOR DAIRY PRODUCERS.

    Section 1409 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 9059) is 
amended by striking ``2018'' and inserting ``2023''.
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