The US Department of Agriculture, under the authorization of the Congress in the 2010 Agricultural Appropriations Act, is all set to award $290 Million in economic losses assistance payments, in order to help the country's dairy producers who had to face many difficulties during the past year. Mainly the losses were a result of a sharp fall in milk prices, in addition to the feeding costs, which had been much higher than usual.

The national milk price, during 2008's fourth quarter, was an average of $16.80 per hundredweight, and the same had slipped to $12.23 per hundredweight by 2009's first quarter, which is a decline of nearly 27%.

On an average, the price received by dairy producers across the nation during the summer of the current year was nearly 50% of the total cost involved in producing milk.

As per the Government's scheme, eligible producers would stand to receive a one-time payment based on the amount of milk they had produced and commercially marketed from the months of February to July 2009.

USDA officials have estimated that over 95% of the eligible producers would be able to gain access to the payment without having to fill in any new applications and with least of hassles and formalities.