Dairy Disaster Assistance Program III deadline nearing, May 5 final date

CROWLEY – May 5, 2008 is the final date for dairy producers to apply for assistance if they suffered production losses in 2005, 2006 or 2007 under the Dairy Disaster Assistance Program III, the USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) announced.

According to Randell J. Monceaux, County Executive Director in the Acadia Parish FSA Office, “Producers can sign up at their local Farm Service Agency (FSA) Service Center before the deadline if their milk production was reduced due to an approved natural disaster occurrence in the parish.”

This program will provide $16 million in benefits nationwide to dairy producers for dairy production losses that occurred between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2007, because of natural disasters. To be eligible, a producer’s operation must be in a parish designated a disaster area by the President or the Secretary of Agriculture between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2007.

As Monceaux explained, the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007 (2007 Act), signed by President Bush in May 2007, authorized this program through February 28, 2007. On December 26, 2007, President Bush signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008, which extends DDAP-III payments to eligible producers who suffered dairy production losses through December 30, 2007.

FSA began enrolling producers in DDAP-III in late 2007 and early 2008 under the initial program, then, temporarily halted sign-up pending the completion of rulemaking for the changes. Based on public comments received due to the proposed rule, FSA made changes to the program. These changes are explained in the final DDAP-III regulations, which were published in the March 4 Federal Register.

Monceaux said that the major change is that FSA would use a dairy operation’s 2003 and 2004 milk cow numbers and milk production in establishing a dairy operation’s base period average production per cow rather than using the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Parish average production per cow. Production from each year, 2005, 2006, and 2007 is compared to the average of the 2003 and 2004 year numbers to determine eligibility. Each year is compared independently. For more information, contact your Acadia Parish FSA office.