Michael Fullenkamp v. Ann M. Veneman, in Her Capacity as Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture

OPINION

MARTHA CRAIG DAUGHTREY, Circuit Judge.

The plaintiffs in this case are dairy farmers who annually produce over 2.4 million pounds of milk. They challenge the regulations promulgated by the defendant Secretary of Agriculture to implement the federal Milk Income Loss Contract Program, 7 U.S.C. § 7982. When a producer signs a contract to join the program, it begins receiving monthly payments on the eligible milk it produces and, under the statute’s transition rule, a lump-sum payment for eligible milk it produced between December 1, 2001, and the month before the contract was signed. The…