MONTPELIER, Vt. – The final checks have been sent out. The bank accounts are being emptied. The books are getting a final audit. Moving boxes are appearing. The Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact is closing up shop.

Four years after congressional passage of the innovative system of providing financial support for beleaguered dairy farmers around New England, the compact will slip into legal twilight Sunday, its prospects for resurrection uncertain.

“Of all the people who ought to be emotional after 14 years, it’s me,” said Daniel Smith, executive director of the Montpelier-based commission that administers the compact.

The compact was the toast of the town for New England dairy farmers and lawmakers. The idea set up a price support system that paid dairy farmers a premium whenever federal prices dropped below a certain level. Farmers in New England and New York have earned an extra $146 million since 1997 because of the pricing system, the commission says.

The federal law creating the compact expires Sunday. No one can agree on one particular cause for the compact failing to get reauthorization. Some blame increased opposition to the compact by dairy producers and Midwestern congressional leaders like Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis. Some blame U.S. Sen. Jim Jeffords’ decision to leave the Republican Party. Some say the shift in national priorities in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks contributed.

Whatever the reason, Smith, like many others in Vermont and elsewhere in New England, isn’t happy.

“I haven’t been mad in a long time, and now I’m p— off,” he said Thursday. The compact “is a good thing and it should be reauthorized.”

The fallout from the compact’s extinction won’t be felt immediately by farmers. Federally regulated milk prices remain at high levels, meaning the compact isn’t paying farmers any premium. The last batch of premium payment checks went out to regional farmers Aug. 22. Another batch – the last for the commission – went out last week, paying farmers to keep from increasing milk production.

Vermont’s three-member congressional delegation said they hope to find ways of resurrecting the compact, perhaps when a major farm bill comes up in Congress in the next few weeks.

“In the weeks ahead we will be working tirelessly to resurrect the compact, a program that has helped preserve an industry and a way of life for so many New Englanders,” read a statement earlier this week from Jeffords, Sen. Patrick Leahy and Rep. Bernie Sanders.

Members of Maine’s congressional delegation – Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and Democratic Rep. John Baldacci – also are working to renew the compact.

“The compact has given a boost to Maine’s dairy farmers and to our state’s broader agriculture economy,” Baldacci said Thursday in a prepared statement. “It has also ensured that consumers are able to purchase locally produced milk and other dairy products.”

He said the long-term effect of the compact’s end might be felt as farmers plan for the future and aren’t able to include compact payments in their financial plans. Also, Smith said the compact was slowly beginning to stem the tide of families across the region selling their farms and giving up farming altogether.

A congressional report earlier this month said the compact has had little impact on the decline in farms in the Northeast.

On Friday, the compact’s 26-member governing body will meet in Concord, N.H., for its final meeting. The body is expected to vote to disband the commission and set up a nonprofit successor to close out final administrative work.

Vermont’s three-member congressional delegation said they hope to find ways of resurrecting the compact, perhaps when a major farm bill comes up in Congress in the next few weeks.

“In the weeks ahead we will be working tirelessly to resurrect the compact, a program that has helped preserve an industry and a way of life for so many New Englanders,” read a statement earlier this week from Jeffords, Sen. Patrick Leahy and Rep. Bernie Sanders.

Members of Maine’s congressional delegation – Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and Democratic Rep. John Baldacci – also are working to renew the compact.

“The compact has given a boost to Maine’s dairy farmers and to our state’s broader agriculture economy,” Baldacci said Thursday in a prepared statement. “It has also ensured that consumers are able to purchase locally produced milk and other dairy products.”