Dairy farmers will discover this morning whether there's a silver lining to the dark cloud of very low milk prices.

In this morning's first half result, Fonterra may look at resurrecting last year's farmer support package, or at raising the percentage of its earnings that it pays in dividends.

Last year's loan scheme, which was launched in August when the farmgate milk price forecast went as low as $3.85 per kilo of milk solids, was taken off the table in December when the forecast went back up to $4.60 per kg of milk solids.

Now that the forecast has dropped back to $3.90 a kg - expectations are that the package could be back on the table.

But analysts favour the higher dividend option because another loan scheme would be an unwelcome drain on Fonterra's already stretched balance sheet.