Wallaces Farmer

Upcoming meetings in central Iowa will focus on crop marketing and USDA commodity programs.

February 6, 2019

5 Min Read
grain bins in winter
PLAN TO ATTEND: Six meetings will be held for farmers and others interested in learning how the new versions of USDA’s crop programs work.

To help farmers manage revenue risks for 2018 and 2019 crops, Iowa State University Extension is hosting six public meetings titled “Crop Marketing, Crop Insurance and the New Farm Bill.”

These meetings are designed to help landowners, tenants and other agribusiness professionals understand current issues related to marketing crops, crop insurance and pending enrollment decisions in the commodity crop programs in the new USDA five-year farm bill.

The Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs that were in the 2014 Farm Bill are continued in the new 2018 Farm Bill. “However, there are some changes in how they operate,” says Steve Johnson, ISU Extension farm and ag business specialist.

By attending these meetings, you’ll get information on marketing, risk management, and a better understanding of ARC and PLC. Open to the public, the two-hour-long meetings have no registration fee. Doors open 30 minutes before the program.

Meeting dates
Participants can choose from the following dates and locations:

Feb. 12 at 6:30 p.m., Key Co-op, 1128 Pinder Ave., Grinnell

Feb. 13 at 6:30 p.m., Community Center, 705 F Ave., Grundy Center

Feb. 14 at 9 a.m., Huxley Learning Center, 1551 Highway 210, Huxley         

Feb. 14 at 6:30 p.m., Community Center, 114 SW Eighth St., Ogden

Feb. 19 at 6:30 p.m., West Central Valley High School, 3299 White Pole Road, Stuart

Feb. 20 at 6:30 p.m., Iowa Valley Continuing Education, Dejardin Hall, 3702 S. Center St., Marshalltown

Session topics
The sessions will be presented by Ray Jenkins and Steve Johnson, both with ISU Extension. Topics include:

Crop supply and demand, and current price outlook

Futures carry, basis and cost of grain ownership

Crop insurance review, especially Supplemental Coverage Option if you elect PLC in 2019

ARC-PLC decisions for 2019 through 2023 crop years

For more information, contact the Polk County Extension office at 515-957-5760. ISU’s Steve Johnson provides the following as a sample of what you can learn at these meetings.

What’s new with ARC, PLC?
One of the key changes is the election between ARC-County and PLC by crop, and for each Farm Service Agency number. In the 2014 Farm Bill, it was a one-time election that could not be changed over the five-year period (2014 through 2018). In the 2018 Farm Bill, however, the initial election is for the 2019 to 2020 crop years. Beginning with the 2021 crop year, a farmer can change the ARC-PLC election annually through 2023. In all elections, the PLC program remains the default option.

A second major change to farm programs is an option to update program yields for the PLC program. A farmer will have a one-time option to do this update, but the formula is somewhat complicated. It operates in two steps:

90% of the average yield for the 2013 through 2017 crop years, excluding any crop year in which the yield was zero

• reduced by a ratio that compares the 2013 through 2017 national average yields per planted acre to the 2008 to 2012 national average yields

In addition, the new farm bill also includes changes to the calculation of yields for the ARC-CO program. Specifically, the plug yield is 80% of the transitional yield and is used in the ARC-CO calculations to replace yields in any year that are below that level.

For PLC, the statutory reference prices for covered commodities remain the same as in the 2014 Farm Bill. These prices are $3.70 per bushel for corn and $8.40 per bushel for soybeans. The new bill, however, includes an escalator known as effective reference price. The effective reference price permits the statutory reference price to increase up to 115% of the statutory reference price. It is calculated as 85% of the five-year Olympic moving average of the national marketing-year average prices.

The 2018 Farm Bill includes modified language regarding base acres. Specifically, it prevents payments on any base acres if all the cropland on the FSA farm was planted to grass or pasture during years 2009 through 2017. The base acres and program yields, for the farms affected by this provision, will remain on record with the Farm Service Agency, but payments will not be made on those acres and farms.

Increase in USDA loan rates
The 2018 Farm Bill also increases the loan rates for the Marketing Assistance Loan and the Loan Deficiency Payment programs. Since the 2002 Farm Bill, the national loan rates have been $1.95 per bushel for corn and $5 per bushel for soybeans. These loan rates will be adjusted higher for crops in most every county nationwide.

No one knows the exact timeline ahead for making ARC-PLC decisions. The rules and regulations for the 2018 Farm Bill still need to be written and approved by FSA sometime late this winter or early spring. Then FSA staff will need to be trained, software developed and enrollment forms created to assist with the 2019 and 2020 ARC-PLC election, and the 2019 program enrollment.

ISU Extension will work with Iowa FSA to help with statewide meetings, workshops, newsletters, articles, Excel spreadsheets and web pages with timely podcasts and videos. It could be June before widespread public meetings on ARC-PLC programs involving FSA state and county staff takes place. This could be about the same time 2019 planted acreage certification takes place at local FSA offices.

Source: ISU Extension which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.
 

 

 

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