USDA Update

By Rod Johnson

June 6, 2003

Rains are finally coming on a regular basis in the eastern 2/3 of Kiowa County but the western portion of the county is still missing most of the storms. Wednesday, June 4, Eads residents greeted the new morning at 5:30 am with a heavy downpour of rain. Overnight, 1.20 to 1.61 inches rain fell in Eads, but initial reports from Haswell indicated no rain had been received. Haswell has received about .4 inches of rain the first couple of days in June. Early reports from Sheridan Lake were reporting about .25 inches of precipitation from Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Forecasts for the rest of the week are favorable for more moisture.

The year 2003 marks the 70^th anniversary of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC). Few institutions have had such a positive effect on American agriculture as the CCC. Through its loans, commodity acquisitions and marketing efforts, CCC has helped stabilize crop prices over the past seven decades. CCC strengthens the American economy and allows citizens to enjoy an affordable and abundant food supply that is too often taken for granted. CCC is a federal corporation within USDA that was created to stabilize, support, and protect farm income and prices. It also helps maintain balanced and adequate supplies of agricultural commodities and aids in their orderly distribution. CCC was incorporated with a capitalization of $3 million. Today, its operations can approach $30 billion annually.

As of June 4, we have not been advised if the Colorado State FSA Committee will approve our request for emergency grazing of CRP grass. If you are still interested in grazing CRP before July 15, please contact the FSA Office and we will add you to a list to be called when we receive notification.

Beginning in this week's UPDATE column, we will change the Loan Deficiency Payment (LDP) and loan rates to the 2003 figures. Producers who will be losing "beneficial interest" in the crop after it is delivered to a buyer (ie; grain elevator or feedlot) may want to sign a form CCC-709 Field Direct LDP request before harvest. Other producers, who will retain control (beneficial interest) in the crop while stored after harvest on the farm or in the warehouse, may sign a form CCC-633 LDP on any given day they want to take advantage of the LDP rate. You do not have to sell the crop to obtain LDP. Requests for LDP may be FAXed into the FSA Office if you have a form FSA-237 Facsimile Signature Authorization and Verification, on file in the FSA Office. Current market prices only allow an LDP for sunflowers, but 2003 sunflowers LDP’s will not be available until harvest time this fall. The POSTED COUNTY PRICE chart published with this article, lists both the county loan rate and posted county price. An LDP is in effect any time the POSTED COUNTY price is below the loan rate for the crop.

The interest rate for crops disbursed in June is 2.25 percent. The interest rate for farm stored facility loans to build or renovate existing storage is 3.25 percent.