Congress has not passed a Farm Bill or any other legislation to extend the authority for USDA to carry out the Dairy Forward Pricing Program, and USDA cannot make new commitments to the program.
Therefore, proprietary handlers establishing new forward contracts on or after October 1, 2026, will not be exempt from paying minimum Federal order prices. Previously established contracts that expire on or before September 30, 2029, are not impacted.
With the expiration of the Dairy Forward Pricing Program, all producers may still choose to (but are not required to) have forward pricing contracts. For producers being paid by proprietary handlers, however, such contracts do not exempt the proprietary handler from its obligation to pay the producer Federal order minimum prices on milk pooled on the order.
Source : iastate.edu