Farm Program - farm bill, insurance, ag legislation, commodity organizations, grassroots, payment limits, USDA | Corn and Soybean Digest

From ag legislation to insurance to the big overall farm bill, farmers are affected by what happens in Washington D.C. Here’s information on what new programs are available, what legislation will affect your marketing and what organizations are fighting for while you’re in the field.

May 16, 2012

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DCP, ACRE Sign-Up Ends June 1

USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) Administrator Bruce Nelson reminds farmers that enrollment for the 2012 Direct and Counter-Cyclical Program (DCP) and the Average Crop Revenue Election Program (ACRE) ends June 1, 2012. “We want producers to know that DCP and ACRE are still available for enrollment,” says Nelson....More
May 15, 2012

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Simple vs. Olympic Prices used in Farm Commodity Programs

When historical averages are needed, an Olympic average often is used rather than a simple average in calculating benchmarks in farm bill commodity programs. For example, the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) program that was passed by the Senate Agriculture Committee uses Olympic averages of prices and yields in calculating benchmark revenue. In this post, Olympic averages are compared to simple averages for corn and soybean prices. Generally, Olympic and simple averages will track one over time. The relationship of Olympic to simple averages depends on the nature of distributions across time.
May 15, 2012

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The Rule of Ten

The lead-in to this topic came from a farmer who had heard me speak about the Rule of 10 a number of years ago, and had experienced it in his own business. The gentleman is over 50, and has operated the farm for more than 30 years. Let’s explain the rule....More
May 15, 2012

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U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement Goes Into Effect May 15

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made the following statement about the U.S-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, or Colombia TPA, which enters into force today."Beginning today, U.S. agricultural exporters receive duty-free access on more than half of the products we currently export to Colombia, and virtually all remaining tariffs will be eliminated within 15 years."...More
May 10, 2012

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Agricultural Risk Coverage Program and Multi-Year Price Declines

The Senate Agriculture Committee recently passed a version of the farm bill that now moves for debate in the entire Senate. This bill replaces direct, counter-cyclical and SURE payments with Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC), a revenue-based program that is further described in yesterday’s post by Carl Zulauf. Here, ARC payments are computed for cases in which prices are low for several years. This emphasis is taken as ARC is specifically designed to provide protection in cases of multi-year revenue losses, cases in which crop insurance often provides limited protection....More
May 8, 2012

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USDA Advances Water Quality Conservation Across the U.S.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced the launch of a new National Water Quality Initiative committed to improving one to seven impaired watersheds in every U.S. state and territory. The 157 selected watersheds were identified with assistance from state agencies, key partners, and NRCS State Technical Committees. USDA's NRCS will make available at least $33 million in financial assistance to farmers, ranchers and forest landowners this year to implement conservation practices to help provide cleaner water for their neighbors and communities....More
May 8, 2012

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Student Loan Dilemma

The other day my road warrior travels took me to New England to a pre-wedding party for my son and his fiancée. After meeting everyone (boy, do they talk funny up there), a young man at the party struck up a conversation with me. He currently lives in New York City and graduated from a university three years ago....More
May 8, 2012

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Too Much Rain and 2012 ACRE Details

It’s hard to believe that in less than a 10-day time period we can go from concerns over drought to excess rainfall, which is causing flooded fields in some areas. That is exactly what has happened dung the last few days of April and the first week of May in some parts of southern Minnesota. Much of the rain came as part of intense thunderstorms with heavy downpours that caused some flash flooding, and featured strong winds and large hail in some areas. The wind and hail did cause some isolated building and property damage in rural areas, but had very minimal impact on the newly planted crops....More
May 8, 2012

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Farm Bill Details and Analysis

Although the Senate Ag Committee’s farm bill draft is just that – a draft – it will certainly be the starting point for further negotiations in formulating the final bill. We gave the framework for the key new programs, but you can take a look at the full bill here (pdf)....More
May 2, 2012

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Nation's 100 Largest Ag Co-ops Post Near-Record Sales, Margins

The nation's 100 largest agriculture cooperatives reported near-record revenue of $118 billion in 2010, USDA Rural Development Under Secretary Dallas Tonsager has announced. This was an increase of 4% over 2009 figures. Net income for the 100 top agriculture co-ops was also up more than 10% in 2010, reaching $2.39 billion, up from $2.16 billion in 2009....More