The Farm Service Agency and University of Minnesota Extension are holding a series of free education meetings to help crop producers understand decisions regarding the 2018 Farm Bill reauthorization of ARC and PLC programs.
The seminars are offered all across the state – locally being held at 10 a.m. at the Mabel Community Center on January 27 – and will be led by Extension educators and FSA; no registration is required. Details are available here or by going to z.umn.edu/2018FarmBill.
The ARC Program is an income support program that provides payments when actual crop revenue declines below a specified guarantee level. The PLC Program provides income support payments when the effective price for a covered commodity falls below its effective reference price.
All farm producers with interest in the cropland must make a farm program election by March 15, 2020. This election will apply to the farm for 2019 and 2020. Crops grown in Minnesota that are covered by this program include: corn, soybeans, wheat, barley, canola, sunflowers, oats, sorghum, lentils, dry peas, garbanzo beans and flax.
“This program offers different options to help producers mitigate risk, but the choice of which program to enroll in can be difficult due to the complexity of it,” said Kevin Klair, University of Minnesota Extension economist and program leader at the Center for Farm Financial Management at the university. “We encourage producers to attend an educational meeting and to use the national decision aid tools to run scenarios for their farm.”
Producers will need to communicate with landowners on program decisions, Klair added. For instance, yield updates are landowner decisions, while other program decisions are made by the farm operator.
Those interested in learning more but unable to attend an in person meeting are encouraged to view online presentations at farmbill.umn.edu. More information from Extension on the Farm Bill and events is available at https://extension.umn.edu/business/abm-events.
For more information on FSA disaster assistance programs, please contact your local USDA service center or visit farmers.gov/recover.
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