A referendum on the statewide establishment of a grain indemnity fund held by the Texas Grain Producers Indemnity Board opened today. The TGPIB referendum will be held from Nov. 19, 2012, until Dec. 7, 2012 across the state.

The grain indemnity fund board may award up to 90 percent of the financial losses suffered by producers of corn, sorghum, soybean and wheat when grain buyers fail to pay for grain due to a financial failure. TGPIB was established as the result of legislation passed by the 2011 Texas legislature and signed into law by the governor. Rep. Larry Phillips of Sherman and Sen. Craig Estes of Wichita Falls introduced the legislation after a series of grain buyer financial failures in recent years resulted in millions of dollars in losses to Texas grain producers.

Eligible voters in the referendum will vote to establish an assessment rate within a range of 0.2 percent to 0.6 percent of the final sales price of grain. The assessment, which will be set each year by the TGPIB, will be collected and remitted to the TGPIB effective Feb. 1, 2013.

Any producer who has produced corn, sorghum, soybeans or wheat within the last 36 months is eligible to vote. This includes owners of farms on which grain is produced or an owner’s tenant or sharecropper engaged in the business of producing grain or causing grain to be produced for commercial purposes.
The referendum is being held by mail ballot. Ballots are available at all Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service county offices during regular business hours.

For a ballot to be valid, it must be mailed to the Texas Department of Agriculture, P.O. Box 12847, Austin, Texas, 78711, with a postmark date of no later than Dec. 7, 2012.

For more information regarding the referendum, please contact the Texas Department of Agriculture, P.O. Box 12847, Austin, Texas, 78711 or call 512-463-3285. To learn more about TGPIB and the indemnity fund, visit www.TexasGrainIndemnity.org.

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