Dairy Program

The mission of the Dairy Program is to facilitate the efficient marketing of milk and dairy products.

Dairy Program's vision is to be efficient, effective, and innovative in program service delivery in the continually changing industry and government environments. Dairy Program also provides excellent customer service and industry relations with highly skilled and motivated employees.

At the Dairy Program, we recognize that our government service is a public trust for which we are all accountable. We subscribe to the following core values in our service to the dairy industry, the public, and within our own organization: cooperation, fairness, integrity, objectivity, and respect.

The AMS Dairy Program helps the U.S. dairy industry efficiently market high-quality milk and dairy products.  It also ensures that U.S. consumers have access to a sufficient supply of these products at all times.

Key Activities

• Administer Federal Milk Marketing Orders and provide aggregated Federal Order Statistics.
• Help the industry market U.S. dairy products worldwide by providing international programs and services, including export certification services. 
• Provide buyers and sellers with an impartial evaluation of dairy equipment and product quality so businesses and consumers can buy with confidence through the Dairy Grading Program.  
• Develop dairy grade standards used in the grading appraisal process.
• Provide timely and accurate market information on milk and dairy products through the Dairy Market News and Dairy Product Mandatory Reporting Program.
• Develop Dairy Economic Analysis for multiple Dairy Program, industry, and USDA needs.
• Oversee The Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Program and the Dairy Research and Promotion Program.
• Provide information to assist dairy businesses in the production and processing of milk and dairy products
• Administer the Pandemic Market Volatility Assistance Program by reimbursing qualified dairy farmers for 80 percent of the revenue difference per month based on an annual production of up to 5 million pounds of milk marketed and on fluid milk sales from July through December 2020.
• Administer the Milk Donation Reimbursement Program by reimbursing milk processors for expenses related to donating milk to eligible distributing organizations, thereby reducing food waste and providing nutrition assistance to low-income individuals

Resources

• View the Dairy Program Org Chart
• Education Resource Center