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Farm Bill informational meeting Nov. 18

The Bond, Clinton, Marion and Washington County Farm Bureaus, in conjunction with U of I Extension and county Farm Service Agency offices, are hosting an informational meeting on the implementation of the 2014 Farm Bill.
The meeting will be held at the Kaskaskia College Lifelong Learning Center on Nov. 18. A free meal will be provided at 6:30 p.m., with the program to begin at 7 p.m. The meal is being provided by the Kaskaskia College.
There is no charge to attend, but reservations are required by next Tuesday. To make reservations, call the Fayette County FSA office at 283-2311.
Area farmers who have questions about programs included in the 2014 farm bill are invited to attend this informational meeting.
During the meeting, Doug Yoder, senior director of risk management for the Illinois Farm Bureau, will provide all the necessary information and an example to help farmers make the best possible decisions for their individual operations, and will cover payment limits, eligibility and deadlines to meet when making various decisions.
Yoder also will discuss programs included in the new Farm Bill, including price loss coverage, agricultural risk coverage-county and agricultural risk coverage-individual, as well as the supplemental coverage option, which is a new supplemental crop insurance program available only to farms choosing price loss coverage.
Landowners’ one-time option to update payment yields and/or reallocate base acreage will also be covered.
The 2014 Farm Bill has provisions for producers to update their yields and change their basis, which has not been an option with prior farm bills.
Those changes on whether to reallocate base acreage or update payment yields must be made by Feb 27.
Producers will also have to decide whether they want to select agricultural risk coverage or price loss coverage. These decisions must be made between Nov. 17 and March 31.
Signed into law in February, the Agricultural Act of 2014 eliminates direct payments and modifies the target price program, replacing the counter-cyclical payment program with PLC.
The bill also changes the revenue safety nets, replacing average crop revenue election (ACRE) with two ARC options – county ARC and individual farm ARC.
Those who don’t make a decision will automatically be enrolled in PLC.
Nick Paulson, an assistant professor at the University of Illinois, will also be highlighting the decision tool on the Farm Doc site, which allows operators to plug in their own numbers in order to evaluate the various program options.
Ag Building Open House
In conjunction with the Farm Bill informational meeting, the Kaskaskia ag department invites those attending to tour the new ag building at the college.
Ag instructors Aaron Heinzmann and William Waggoner will be present from 5:30-6:30 p.m. for tours the building.  The ag department is now located in the old animal disease lab on campus.

 

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