(a) If funds are available, as an incentive to continue milk production and to improve milk quality, the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture may pay a milk producer the following incentive payments:
(1)
(A) Fifty cents (50¢) per hundred weight of milk for each hundred weight of milk produced above the milk producer's average annual milk production.
(B) A milk producer's average annual milk production specified under subdivision (a)(1)(A) of this section shall be calculated over the two (2) years preceding the year of disbursement; and
(2) Fifty cents (50¢) per hundred weight of milk if the milk contains a somatic cell count of less than four hundred thousand (400,000).
(b) A milk producer that begins milk production after July 31, 2009, qualifies for payments under subsection (a) of this section after the completion of one (1) continuous year of milk production in Arkansas.
(c) Annual payments to a milk producer under this section shall not exceed fifty thousand dollars ($50,000).
(d) If funds are available, the secretary shall pay the annual production and quality incentive payments to the eligible milk producers by January 15 of the following year.