(NAFB.com) – New funding announced Monday from the Department of Agriculture will help dairy producers affected by natural disasters. The Milk Loss Program administered by the Farm Service Agency will compensate eligible dairy farms and processors for milk dumped due to qualifying disaster events from 2020 to 2022. Eligible disasters include droughts, wildfires, hurricanes, floods, derechos, excessive heat, winter storms and smoke exposure. The Milk Loss Program will help farmers and, in certain cases, cooperatives, recover losses previously overlooked by disaster assistance. The National Milk Producers Federation applauded the announcement. NMPF president and CEO Jim Mulhern says, “We’re very appreciative of USDA’s diligent work over several months to finalize the compensation plan that will address this backlog of disaster assistance.” Dairy farmers and cooperatives can sign up for the program through October 16, 2023. In other FSA dairy safety-net support, Dairy Margin Coverage program payments have triggered every month, January through July, for producers who obtained coverage for the 2023 program year.