USDA Update

By Rod Johnson

September 5, 2003

Rain over the Labor Day weekend greatly improved wheat planting conditions in most of the county. Rain fall totals ranged from .5 inches in the Haswell area to 1.5 inches or more in the eastern parts of the county. There were reports of some areas receiving .2 inches or less.

We have finally made the first batch of Crop Disaster Payments. We have everyone in the office working on applications but it is a very time consuming process. We appreciate your patience as we continue through this process of reconciling Crop Insurance and FSA records. We will call you as soon as we get your forms to where you can come into the office to complete them.

The County Committee is authorized to continue taking applications for the Emergency Conservation Program. This is a cost share program for livestock producers who need assistance providing water to livestock due to the drought. Only those farms or ranches that had adequate livestock watering systems or facilities before the drought are eligible. There must also be adequate range or pasture residue for livestock in the area to be served by the proposed water facility. Cost shares may be earned for water hauling, pipelines, wells and other water facilities. The bottom line is that the practice must be installed primarily to deal with the drought related problems. A good example would be where a well has gone dry in a pasture due to drought. Practices including water hauling, are not authorized for grazing of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grass.

Good News! The $2.00 per acre payment for planting certified under the White Wheat Incentives Program have been extended to those producers who can document they planted foundation and registered seed. We will take the applications we have on file back to the County Committee for approval. Other producers who have planted certified, registered or foundation white wheat seed in the fall of 2002 may still apply for benefits. Producers who plant white wheat that is not certified, registered or foundation seed may still be eligible for the 20¢ per bushel production incentive if the hard white wheat grades U.S. #2 or better and is disposed of through an eligible buyer.

Direct and Counter-Cyclical Program (DCP) must be revised if producers transfer or change interest in the crops or crop base acres on a farm. If a producer loses interest in the base acres on a farm during the crop year, the producer is not eligible to retain payments on those acres. The payments must be refunded to FSA and will be reissued to the successor-in-interest when a revised contract is approved. A producer or owner must inform the FSA Office when the change occurs, but no later than September 30 of the current year.

The "designation by landowner" method is the division of crop bases in the manner agreed to (in writing) by the parent farm owner and purchaser or transferee. This method may be used when a part of a farm is sold or ownership is transferred, and entire farm, part of a farm or tracts of land are sold to 2 or more persons. Land sold or transferred must have been owned for at least 3 years. Provisions are granted for waiver of this requirement if the County Committee determines that the sale was not primarily to keep or sell crop bases.

The interest rate for commodity loans disbursed in August is 2.250 percent. The interest rate for farm storage facility loans is 3.875 percent.