USDA Update

By Rod Johnson

July 30, 2004

Heavy rain covered the eastern 2/3 of the county this past week. Reports of 2 to 4 inches of rain were common across the area. High wind and large hail, over 1 inch in diameter was also reported in some parts of the county. The southwestern portion of the county came up short again with as little as .1 inches in some areas.

August 2, 2004 is the final date for producers to request reconstitutions for combinations or divisions of farm with DCP crop bases or for protecting Crop Acreage Bases under a CRP contract.

Final counter-cyclical payments will not be made for wheat, barley and oats for crop year 2003 because their effective prices (market price plus direct payment rate) exceed their respective target prices. The 2002 Farm Bill provides for 2 partial counter-cyclical payments, in October 2003 and February 2004, and a final payment after the end of the marketing year. A first partial payment was issued for wheat in October 2003 only to those producers who had requested advance payment. Producers that received a 2003 1^st advance counter-cyclical payment are now overpaid. Producers will have two options for repaying the unearned counter-cyclical payment: (1) automatically reduce any future DCP payment received between October 2004 and March 30, 2005 or (2) elect to repay directly to the FSA Office. Producers were mailed a letter from Kansas City explaining these options on May 3, 2004. Very few producers in Kiowa County elected to receive advance counter-cyclical payments. We will individually contact all producers that are required to refund payments.

Final Counter Cyclical payments for corn, grain sorghum and sunflowers will not be determined until after October 1. 2004.

Kiowa County along with other Colorado counties will be ineligible for the recently announced Livestock Feed Assistance Initiative to aid producers in drought areas. This is the program that allowed livestock producers to receive surplus stocks of non-fat dry milk in previous years. To be eligible for this program, a county must be in a D3 (Extreme) or D4 (Exceptional) drought category according to the Palmer Drought Index. All Colorado counties are currently in a D2 (severe) or lower category of drought. I think most producers would agree, the recent rains have been far more beneficial than the dry milk!

Special accommodations will be made, upon request, for individuals with disabilities, vision impairment, or hearing impairment. If special accommodations are required, please call the FSA Office and we will be happy to make any arrangements that are needed.