By Robert Burns
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will host a training on the new farm bill provisions Oct. 1 in the auditorium of Frost High School, 208 N. Wyrick St., Frost.
The program will start at 9 a.m. and last until about noon. There is no charge for the program, and coffee and refreshments will be made available, said Logan Lair, AgriLife Extension agent for Navarro County.
“With the dynamics of this new farm bill, it is important for ag producers to take advantage of every opportunity to learn more about it,” Lair said.
Presenters include Dr. Jason Johnson, AgriLife Extension economist, Stephenville, and Scott Reed, state commodity compliance program specialist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency, College Station.
The meeting will explain general farm program provisions, covering the producer’s selection of the Price Loss Coverage, or PLC, or Agricultural Risk Coverage, or ARC, according to Lair. The presentation will also cover any base and yield update options available and illustrate the data needed to complete the decision-making process.
All of these details can be aggregated in a decision-aid tool that is available for use by agricultural producers and will be showcased at the program, according to Reed.
“The online decision aid available to producers was developed by the Agricultural and Food Policy Center of the agricultural economics department at Texas A&M University,” Reed said. “The decision aid simplifies the analysis needed to choose between the PLC and ARC coverage as well as providing insight into complementary crop insurance alternatives.”
“This farm bill sign-up has lots of ‘moving parts’ that require producers to process quite a bit of data in order to make rational decisions,” Logan said. “A significant emphasis was placed on crop insurance by Congress, so this decision aid will help producers identify optimal and viable insurance coverage levels to provide as much of a crop loss safety net as possible.”
“Livestock producers who endured drought conditions for the last three years no longer have to wait for assistance,” Reed said. “All interested livestock producers, regardless of operation size, location or type, should join us to learn more about available USDA drought recovery benefits.”
During the workshop, Reed said he will discuss Livestock Forage Disaster program eligibility requirements and the application process.
“LFP payments will be made to eligible producers for grazing losses that have occurred since the expiration of the livestock disaster assistance programs in 2011, and includes all or parts of 2011, as well as calendar years 2012, 2013 and 2014.”
Producers have until Jan. 30, 2015, to sign up for LFP in their local Farm Services office, but Reed encouraged them to begin the process as soon as possible.
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