Farm Bill programs On Tap For Central Indiana

Jan 02, 2015

By Darrin Pack

Purdue Extension and the Indiana Farm Service Agency are teaming up to offer a series of free informational programs throughout central Indiana in January to help farmers learn more about their coverage options under the new farm bill.

Discussion will focus on the Agricultural Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs authorized by the bill. Crop producers must select one of the new safety net programs, which replace the direct payment programs of previous years.

There are two plans available through the Agricultural Risk Coverage program, better known as ARC. The ARC-County option estimates individual crop revenue based countywide projections. Under the ARC-Individual option, farmers receive payments based on their own past revenues on a whole-farm basis.

Under the Price Loss Coverage program, or PLC, payments are made on a crop-by-crop basis if the national price of that commodity falls below the reference price established in the farm bill legislation.

Program participants will have an opportunity to speak directly with Extension and FSA experts during each of the two-hour sessions. The schedule is:

Jan. 6, 9-11 a.m.: Oakley Auditorium at Ivy Tech; 8000 S. Education Drive, Terre Haute.
Jan. 13, 6:30-8:30 p.m.: Sullivan County Fairgrounds; 1301 E. County Road 75 N, Sullivan.
Jan. 14, 9-11 a.m.: Parke County Fairgrounds; 1472 N. U.S. 41, Rockville.
Jan. 20, 9:30-11:30 a.m.: Putnam County Fairgrounds; 191 N. U.S. 231, Greencastle.
Jan. 28, 2-4 p.m.: Monroe County Fairgrounds; 5700 W. Airport Road, Bloomington.

Source:purdue.edu

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.