2014 Farm Bill: What producers should know as March 31 deadline looms

By: 
Mira Schmitt-Cash | Editor

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*Editor's note: Due to the upcoming March 31, 2015 extended deadline for program signup for the 2014 Farm Bill, this story is posted in part ahead of its scheduled print appearance, in the March 26 National Agriculture Week special section in the Clarksville Star and Butler County Tribune-Journal.*
  Farmers should know a few things about the federal government's 2014 Farm Bill.
  The bill, signed into law a year ago in February, introduces the major new programs of price loss coverage and agriculture risk coverage.
  The election between ARC and PLC is to be made by March 31, 2015, and is in effect for the 2014-2018 crop years.
  Owners of farms that participate in price loss or ag risk coverage programs for the 2014-2018 crops have a one-time opportunity to: (1) maintain the farm’s 2013 bases through 2018; or (2) reallocate base acres.
  Covered commodities include corn, soybeans, sorghum, oats, barley, wheat, grain rice, sunflower seed, rapeseed, canola, safflower, flaxseed, mustard seed, crambe and sesame seed, dry peas, lentils, small and large chickpeas and peanuts.
  If the sum of the base acres on a farm is 10 acres or fewer, the producer on that farm may not receive PLC or ARC payments, unless the producer is a socially-disadvantaged or limited-resource farmer or rancher.
 
Result of inaction
  If farmers don't visit the Farm Service Agency office and submit the proper information by March 31, there will be no reallocation of their base acres and no updating of yields.
  If the farmer does nothing, he or she will have forfeited any payments for the 2014 harvest, says Nancy Jensen, Butler County Extension Program Coordinator. In that case, 2015 will be the first year of benefitsand the producer is deemed to have elected PLC for subsequent crop years, but must still enroll the farm for coverage, Farm Service Agency states.
 
Acres and yields
  "Farmers are updating their yields on their farms right now in order to improve it," said Brandon Sowers, executive director, Butler County Farm Service Agency.
  "We haven’t done this in about 12 years, so we are encouraging everyone to (update) whether you need it or not, because who knows what the 2018 farm bill holds," Sowers said.
  The first level of action is to compare yield update options. Farmers will need their current yield, 90 percent of the farm's average yields from crop insurance records (to certify) and 75 percent of the county average (substitute yields).
  A producer can update the program payment yield for each covered commodity crop based on 90 percent of the farm’s average yield per planted acre from 2008-’12. This excludes any year none of the crop was planted.
 
Basic programs, ARC and PLC
  When considering yields, a farmer must decide by March 31, between:
  • Price loss or agriculture risk coverage by county (PLC, county ARC), on a commodity-by-commodity basis,
  • Or individual agriculture risk coverage for all commodities on the farm (individual ARC).       
  If the producers on the farm elect PLC or county ARC, the producers must also make a one-time choice of which base acres on the farm are enrolled in PLC and which are in county ARC.
  Alternatively, if individual ARC is selected, then every covered commodity on the farm must participate in individual ARC.
  Payments for PLC and ARC are issued after the end of the respective crop year, but not before Oct. 1.
  If choosing coverage by county, farmers will want to go with the highest yield rate overall per county, Jensen said.
  If a farmer is consistently over the county average yield, then he or she might want to choose individual ag risk coverage, Jensen said.
 
County average yields
  Producers with yields in any of the 2008-’12 years that are less than 75 percent of the county average yield can substitute that yield in the calculation.
  In Butler County, substitute yields for updating price loss coverage are 126 bushels an acre for corn and 36 bushels for soy.
  Some nearby counties with higher substitute yields, starting with the most favorable, are:
  Floyd (north), 162.8 corn, 48.1 soy
  Bremer (east) 159 corn, 48.6 soy
  Chickasaw (northeast) 157.6 corn, 47 soy
  Grundy (south) 132 corn, 41 soy
  Hardin (southwest) 128 corn, 38 soy
  Franklin (west) 126 corn, 36 soy (the same as Butler)
  Program payment yields are used to determine payment amounts for PLC. PLC yields may be updated for all farms, regardless of program election.
 
Web tools to aid
in decision process
  Farmers can visit the University of Illinois Decision tool to see the expected payments for the average farm for the county and change default prices to see which choices result at http://farmbilltoolbox.farmdoc.illinois.edu/arc-plc-decision-steps.html.
  Then, visit the Texas A&M Decision tool, enter the farm's actual data, select a price combination, and compare expected payment streams for the farm across program options: PLC, PLC/county ARC, county ARC, or individual ARC. It is at https://usda.afpc.tamu.edu/.
  Next, download the ISU Extension decision tool, enter the farm's data, select a price combination, alter yield price relationships, and consider expected outcomes under normal and abnormal scenarios, at http://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/crops/html/a1-33.html.
 
Contact FSA
  As close as it is to the decision time, be sure to schedule an appointment with FSA now if you haven't already done so, to ensure not missing payments for the 2014 harvest.
  For more information on the 2014 Farm Bill, contact Brandon M. Sowers, Butler County FSA, at 319-267-2777, brandon.sowers@ia.usda.gov or visit him at 310 Allan St., Allison.
  Read more in the  March 26 National Ag Week special section, inside that issue of the Clarksville Star and Butler County Tribune-Journal, including:
  • A feature about the Stoxen-Hoodjer-Schmidt Century Farm in Dayton Township
  • About a seven-county regional group that includes Butler County and will help to market farm products

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