Milk From Family Dairies Act of 2026

Key Points

• The bill creates a national Dairy Market Stabilization Program that sets a minimum floor price for milk based on herd size and cost of production, replacing today's market-based pricing for participating farmers.
• Every dairy farmer gets an annual quota called allowable milk marketings; producing more than that quota triggers a market access fee designed to cost more than the extra milk is worth.
• Fees collected from farmers who exceed their quota are paid out as dividends to farmers who stayed within their limits, redistributing money from over-producers to compliant producers each quarter.
• The very largest dairy operations, those over 1,000% of the national average production, are exempt from fees and dividends for two years but get steered toward downsizing through USDA buyouts, premiums, and loan restructuring help.
• The bill raises fees on dairy import licenses and pushes for lower import quotas, aiming to shield domestic producers from foreign competition.
• Several existing federal dairy programs, including dairy margin coverage and dairy revenue protection insurance, are suspended while the new program operates, and farmers vote every five years on whether to keep it going.