We have heard from a lot of our members with questions about USDA’s Producer Market Volatility Assistance Program (PMVAP). Through this program, USDA will provide more than $350 million in pandemic assistance payments to dairy farmers who received a lower value due to market abnormalities caused by the pandemic and ensuing federal policies.
You will be paid through your handler or cooperative. If your handler/co-op participated in the pool in the period of July-December 2020, they are eligible to receive these payments, which will then be distributed to their dairy farmer members. If your handler/co-op pooled all or a portion of their milk, you’ve most likely already received a request to verify your adjusted gross income (AGI) to them.
What are the next steps?
USDA has provided the timeline below so producers know what to expect. Once handlers/co-ops have all their dairy farmers’ AGIinformation, they can compile data and draft an agreement with USDA. Those agreements will be finished in the coming weeks. USDA will then calculate payment rates and distribute money to the handlers/co-ops, who must distribute those funds to farmers within 30 days.
September/October: Handlers/co-ops collect producer AGI information and submit to USDA
Fall 2021: Co-op agreements finalized and signed
Fall/winter: All lump sum payments distributed to handlers/co-ops and then distributed to farmers
Spring 2022: USDA payment verification
March 2022: Deadline for handler/co-op to provide educational materials to farmers on dairy pricing
Other information
Eligibility requirements:
A producer’s AGI must be less than $900,000 on average for tax years 2016, 2017 and 2018 or at least 75 percent of your AGI must come from farming, ranching or forestry-related activities. If you were eligible for CFAP-2, you would be eligible for this program. Please note that producers MUST certify their AGI to be eligible for the payment.
Your handler or cooperative must have participated in the Federal Milk Marketing Orders between July and December 2020. If your handler is eligible, they have been notified by USDA.
Payment rates are determined by:
Volume of milk regulated by the federal order program where you sell your milk
Determination of monthly rate per order: - Difference between old and current Class I skim value - Class I skim utilization rate - Reduced to 80 percent - Paid on only 5 million pounds annual production per producer
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