WASHINGTON —U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) Bob Etheridge today reminds producers of upcoming important deadlines for the new safety-net programs established by the 2014 Farm Bill, known as Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC). The final day to update yield history or reallocate base acres is Feb. 27, 2015, and the final day for farm owners and producers to choose coverage is March 31, 2015.
“These programs provide financial protection against unexpected changes in the marketplace, so now is the time to have those final conversations, to ask any remaining questions, and to visit the Farm Service Agency to make these decisions,” said Etheridge.
“For the first time in many years, farmers have the opportunity to update yields or reallocate base, but if no changes are made by February 27, the farm’s current yield and base will be used,” Etheridge said. “If no program election occurs by March 31, then there will be no 2014 payments for the farm and the farm will default to PLC coverage through the 2018 crop year.”
Nationwide, more than 3,500 training sessions have been conducted on the new safety-net programs, including 93 in North Carolina. The online tools, available at www.fsa.usda.gov/arc-plc, allow producers to explore projections on how ARC or PLC coverage will affect their operation under possible future scenarios.
Covered commodities include barley, canola, large and small chickpeas, corn, crambe, flaxseed, grain sorghum, lentils, mustard seed, oats, peanuts, dry peas, rapeseed, long grain rice, medium grain rice (which includes short grain rice), safflower seed, sesame, soybeans, sunflower seed and wheat. Upland cotton is no longer a covered commodity.
To learn more, farmers can contact the Bladen County Farm Service Agency office at the Powell-Melvin Agriculture Service Center 450 Smith Circle in Elizabethtown or call 910-862-3179 ext.2.
The Farm Bill builds on historic economic gains in rural America over the past six years, while achieving meaningful reform and billions of dollars in savings for the taxpayer. Since enactment, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has made significant progress to implement each provision of this critical legislation, including providing disaster relief to farmers and ranchers; strengthening risk management tools; expanding access to rural credit; funding critical research; establishing innovative public-private conservation partnerships; developing new markets for rural-made products; and investing in infrastructure, housing and community facilities to help improve quality of life in rural America. For more information, visit www.usda.gov/farmbill.
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