WASHINGTON — Dairy farmers in Butler County and elsewhere in the nation will get a one-time payment from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The USDA on Thursday announced details of the new Dairy Economic Loss Assistance Payment program. The announcement comes after Congress earlier this year approved $350 million to help the struggling dairy industry, which has been mired in a lengthy downturn.

When Congress approved the funding in October, $60 million was set aside to cover purchases of surplus cheese and other dairy products, but the USDA was given wide discretion with the remaining $290 million.

Under the plan, eligible dairy producers will receive a payment that is based on the amount of milk produced and commercially marketed by their operation between February and July 2009.

In October about 75 people from northwestern Pennsylvania and Ohio attended a Dairy Solutions Rally at the Butler Farm Show grounds hosted by U.S. Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper, D-3rd.

She is a member of the House agriculture committee.

At that rally, several speakers talked about the economic plight dairy farmers are in.

Milk prices declined substantially through early-to-mid-2009, with the national price for milk averaging $16.80 per hundredweight (cwt.) in the fourth quarter of 2008 and averaging $12.23 per cwt. in the first quarter of 2009, a 27-percent decline, according to a news release from Dahlkemper's office.

Dairy producers who have production records at the USDA Farm Service Agency county office because they participated in another agency dairy program do not need to apply for the program, the news release said.

Producers who have not provided production data for those months to FSA, and have not already been contacted by FSA to provide such data, have 30 days, until Jan. 19 to apply.

For information and eligibility requirements on this program, contact the local Farm Service Agency county office or www.fsa.usda.gov.