USDA Update – February 24, 2019

Eads USDA Service Center Staff

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER

EXTENDED – FEBRUARY 28 - DEADLINE to apply for 2018 (LFP) Livestock Forage Program –
NAP COVERAGE DEADLINE -March15^thfor crops of sorghum forage and common millet.
MFP production deadline – May 1, 2019
COC Meeting - March 19^th– 9:00 a.m.
CRP Primary Nesting Season begins March 15^th

Disclaimer: Information in this UPDATE is pertinent to Kiowa County FSA only. Producers reading this and that do not have FSA interest in Kiowa County are advised to contact their local FSA Office.

SNOW

The county saw 8-9 inches of good wet snow fall in the early morning hours Saturday. The wind didn’t blow as predicted at 45-50 mph, which is always good.

2018 LIVESTOCK FORAGE PROGRAM

Thursday, February 28, is the last day for producers with eligible livestock and grazing land to apply for the 2018 Livestock Forage Program. This deadline was extended due to the recent Government shutdown. All counties in SE Colorado were eligible for this program due to the drought conditions the are experienced last spring and summer during the growing season.

2018 FARM BILL INFORMATION

The FSA Office received some preliminary information on the 2018 Farm Bill which was signed into law by President Trump on December 20^th. The Bill reauthorizes all programs administered by FSA and makes modifications to most of them. Over the next few weeks, the weekly UPDATE will highlight changes that will come with the new Farm Bill.

ARCPLC Program - This program was effective during the 2014 Farm Bill and will continue through 2023 with some modifications regarding program elections, PLC yield update and method of determining payment rates for each program.

Program elections- Producers may make a new election to obtain either ARC or PLC for the 2019 crop year. That election also applies for the 2020 crop year. Producers may change elections annually during the 2021 through 2023 crop years. Failure of producers on a farm to make a unanimous election in 2019 will result in the farm not being eligible for 2019 payments. For the 2020-2023 crops, unless they make new elections, they are deemed to have made the same election as they did for the 2015-2018 crop years.

PLC Yield Update - Owners can update the farm’s PLC payment yield beginning with the 2020 crop year. The formula to update yieldsone that I have not worked through on paper, as it’s not a simple yield update for this Farm Bill as it was in the 2014 Farm Bill. Producers are encouraged to update crop yields even if the farm is not enrolled into PLC, yield updates are not written into each Farm Bill therefore when given the opportunity take advantage.

PLC payment rate - Currently PLC payments are determined by the difference between the established reference price and the marketing year average. Ex., the reference price for wheat is $5.50 and the marketing year average price is $5.15 which currently for 2018 payment rate is 35 cents per bushel.

For 2019-2023, payments will be issued when the effective reference price is greater than the applicable effective price for the crop year according to the following method.

The effective reference price for a covered commodity for a crop year will be calculated as the lesser of:

115 percent of the reference price, or
the greater of:
- the reference price, or
- 85 percent of the previous five-year Olympic average of the marketing year price.

There will be more information on this calculation next week.

Kiowa County NRCS Office

Scott Smith, with the Cheyenne County NRCS Office is currently overseeing the Kiowa County NRCS Office. Scott is normally in Eads on Wednesday’s after 10:00. Producers can call the Cheyenne County NRCS @ 719-767-5648, ext. 3 to set up an appointment with Scott.