Federal aid coming to dairy farmers
Maine dairy farmers are now eligible for $1.5 million in federal aid from the Department of Agriculture.
A $447 billion spending bill approved recently by Congress includes $290 million for the Dairy Economic Loss Assistance Payment program, and $1.5 million is slated for Maine, the Sun Journal and Bangor Daily News report. The one-time subsidy check is about $4,700 per dairy farmer, and they could be mailed out as soon as Thursday, according to Tim Drake, executive director of the Maine Milk Commission. Only the first 6 million pounds of milk that a farm produces are eligible, and dairy producers that had a gross income of over $500,000 from 2006 to 2008 are not eligible.
Dairy farmers have been struggling with milk prices that hover around 1976 levels, and this year 18 farms have closed, Drake told the Daily News. A state dairy subsidy program ran out of money earlier this year, and a task force has been charged with generating ways to revamp the program. Nationally, milk prices in 2009 declined 27%, and the price farmers received for the milk was about half of what it cost to produce it.
Go to the article from the Bangor Daily News >>
Go to the article from the Sun Journal >>
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