USDA North Dakota Farm Service Agency (FSA) Executive Director, Aaron Krauter announced that approximately 26,000 North Dakota farms enrolled in new safety-net programs established by the 2014 Farm Bill are receiving financial assistance for the 2014 crop year. The programs, known as Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC), are designed to protect against unexpected drops in crop prices or revenues due to market downturns. “These new safety-net programs provide help when price and revenues fall below normal, unlike the previous direct payments program that provided funds even in good years,” said Krauter. “The county-based option of ARC protects against lower revenue from a combination of price and yield. For example, corn producers experienced a 30 percent drop in price below the historical benchmark price established by the ARC-CO program. Payments by county can vary because average county yields will differ.”
Crops receiving assistance in North Dakota include barley, corn, grain sorghum, lentils, dry peas, soybeans, and wheat. In the upcoming months, payments will be made for other crops after marketing year average prices are published by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Payments to participants in ARC-County or PLC for minor oilseeds, including canola and sunflowers, and chickpeas will occur in December. ARC-Individual payments will also begin in November.
Statewide, approximately 50,500 farms enrolled in ARC-County and 36,500 farms participated in PLC. More detail on the price and yield information used to calculate the financing assistance from the safety-net programs is available on the FSA website at http://www.fsa.usda.gov/arc-plc and http://www.fsa.usda.gov/nd.
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