USDA Update

by Rod Johnson

April 11, 2003

If you can help gather precipitation and hail information for your area, please attend the Community Collaborative Rain & Hail Study informational meetings on Monday, April 14. The first meeting will be held at the Courthouse meeting room in Eads at 10:00 am and the second meeting will be at the KA Hall in Sheridan Lake at 1:30 pm.

Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman has announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will make additional supplies of surplus USDA stock of non-fat dry milk available to livestock producers in areas hardest hit by continuing drought. To be eligible for this assistance, counties must be in an area classified as D3-Extreme or D4-Exceptional on the Drought Monitor. Many Colorado counties should be included in this category. This program will be administered similar to the Cattle Feed program last fall. We should find out soon if Kiowa County will be eligible and have details on signup.

Signup forms are now available for the 2003 Hard White Wheat Incentives Program. Eligible producers may receiver either or both of the following: (1) $0.20 per bushel (not to exceed 60 bushels per acre) as an incentive payment for the actual production of hard white wheat and/or, (2) $2.00 per acre as an incentive payment to purchase certified seed. Signup for the 2003 crop year will continue until May 31, 2004 (yes, this is next year). It is not necessary to apply for both incentives at the same time. Producers requesting the certified seed payment will be required to furnish an acceptable seed receipt and report the acres of white wheat planted. To be eligible for the $0.20 per bushel incentive payment, the hard white wheat harvested must be U.S. Grade #2 or better quality according to Federal Grain Inspection Standards and disposed of through an eligible buyer for any purpose except for feed use. We have been advised that producers who raise certified white wheat seed for sale as seed will not be eligible for the incentive payment.

Producers who have leases on Federal or State grazing land have been granted an extension of time through May 2, 2003, to obtain Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) coverage for the 2003 growing season. This extension has been granted due to changes in regulations on what types of leases are eligible for coverage under NAP. We feel most producers have already requested NAP coverage on State land in Kiowa County but you should contact the FSA Office if have not previously done so.

The Colorado Agricultural Statistics Service has determined the 2002 grain sorghum crop in Kiowa County was 143,000 bushels. This was 92 percent below the 1,809,000 bushel crop produced in 2001. Only 9,000 acres of was harvested as grain in 2002 compared with 50,600 acres in 2001.