(a) In order for a dairy operation to be eligible to register for DMC and receive payments, such dairy operation must:

(1) Produce milk from cows in the United States that is marketed commercially at the time of each annual election for an applicable coverage year in DMC, except that dairy operations that have stopped producing and marketing milk in any month before or during the annual coverage election period for 2019 are eligible for only those applicable months;

(2) Submit accurate and complete information as required by this subpart;

(3) Provide proof of milk production marketed commercially by all persons in the dairy operation to establish production history;

(4) Pay required administrative fees for participation in DMC as specified in this subpart and any premiums, if applicable, as specified in this subpart.

(b) A person or entity covered by §1400.401 of this chapter (hereafter “foreign person”) must meet the eligibility requirements in that section to receive payments under this subpart. A dairy operation with ineligible foreign persons as members will have any payment reduced by the proportional share of such members.

(c) Federal agencies and States, including all agencies and political subdivisions of a State, are not eligible for payments under this subpart.

(d) A single dairy operation operated by more than one dairy producer will be treated as a single dairy operation for purposes of participating in DMC and can only submit one application. If a producer owns more than one eligible dairy operation in which each operation is separate and distinct from each other, such dairy producer may be eligible to participate separately for each dairy operation, however, each eligible dairy operation must be separately registered, as specified in §1430.404.

(e) The Deputy Administrator or designee will determine additional dairy operations that operate in a manner that are separate and distinct from each other according to paragraph (d) of this section and which may, as determined by the Deputy Administrator, be considered an operation even though they may not meet the conditions otherwise imposed in this definition. Also, the Deputy Administrator may require operations to be combined and considered one operation when there is close interest by family or otherwise between two operations, to avoid schemes or devices, or otherwise. Likewise, the Deputy Administrator may consider other factors as are deemed appropriate to adjust what is considered a dairy operation to conform with the DMC Program requirements in an equitable manner, including taking into account a dairy's status under MPP-Dairy and the Milk Income Loss Contract Program formerly operated under this part.