LEWISTON — Maine dairy farmers are catching a small break with the news that they will be eligible for a $1.5 million, one-time payment from the federal government to help make up for historically low milk prices.

The money will be allocated through a new U.S. Department of Agriculture program called the Dairy Economic Loss Assistance Payment, which was recently approved as part of the $447 billion spending bill passed by Congress. The dairy program will cost $290 million, nationwide.

Farmers will receive one-time subsidy checks, which could begin to be sent out as soon as Dec. 24, said Tim Drake, executive director of the Maine Milk Commission.

“It’s going to work out to 32 cents per (100 pounds of milk), approximately,” he said. “They’ve also put a cap on it; only the first 6 million pounds that someone produces will be eligible.”

Julie Marie Bickford, executive director of the Maine Dairy Industry Association, said the money will make a difference to farmers.

“In terms of what is going to the farm, it’s going to mean being able to pay the grain bill, paying for fuel for the month or a couple of months, the electricity – that’s where the money is going to go,” she said.

Small payments are better than nothing, Drake said. “It’s better than a sharp stick in the eye.”

Bickford and Drake said milk prices are slowly starting to rise, giving farmers hope that they might again break even on producing milk.

(The prices) are trending up,” Bickford said. “You add that hope factor, plus the little bit of cash, and it can make the difference for somebody who’s basically having to decide whether to shut the doors or not.”

The new federal program was praised in news releases sent out by U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, and U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, a Democrat representing Maine’s 2nd District (inland, mid-coast and Down East counties).

Collins, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, helped ensure the funding survived the conference report that combines House and Senate measures.

Michaud said he and other members of the Congressional Dairy Caucus met with top USDA officials in October to push for a fast start for the program.

On average, the price U.S. dairy farmers received for milk in the summer of 2009 was about half of what it cost them to produce it, according to Michaud’s office.

A state program in Maine that provides break-even subsidy payments to dairy farmers has been bankrupt since October.

rmetzler@sunjournal.com

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