Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said he would provide “flexibility” if needed to assure orderly handling of two important farm program deadlines. Growers have until Friday to tell the USDA whether they want to update two factors for calculating crop subsidies – average yields and acreage bases. And they have until March 31 to select either the insurance-like Agricultural Risk Coverage subsidy or the traditionally designed Price Loss Coverage subsidy.
Some 430,000 farmers already have made the ARC/PLC choice and more than 200,000 have asked for updated yields or bases, Vilsack said during a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing. The ARC/PLC tally is just over a quarter of the total expected by the USDA, he said.
“We want folks to make the decision…. We’ll be as flexible as we can,” Vilsack responded when senators asked if the deadlines will be extended. The USDA allowed additional time in recent months for producers to apply for disaster aid and the new dairy program.
Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet said, “I hear a lot of concern” about whether the USDA’s local offices will be overwhelmed by a last-minute rush. Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts said he believes that many USDA offices “are swamped” because of Friday’s deadline.
The USDA should write as strict a rule as possible on who is eligible for farm subsidies, Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow told Vilsack, and said the USDA has statutory power to do so. Roberts interjected, “It is exceedingly important” for the USDA to follow the instructions in the 2014 farm law about applying the new, “actively engaged” definition to operations other than family-run farms.
Based on USDA data on production at the county level, economist Gary Schnitkey said the ARC “is projected to make payments over $40 an acre in many counties,” while payments on wheat and soybeans would be limited. “In 2014, PLC may make modest per-acre payments for corn but will not make payments for soybeans and wheat,” he wrote at farmdoc daily. The likelihood of payments is a key factor for farmers in selecting either ARC or PLC. It is a one-time choice for the five-year life of the farm bill.
To read the statements of Senate Agriculture Committee witnesses, including Vilsack, or to watch a video of the hearing, click here. To read the chairman’s statement, click here.
As expected, the USDA announced a two-week extension, to March 13, for farmers to enroll in the Conservation Stewardship Program, the first USDA green payment program for working lands.