News

President Obama signs farm bill

By Scott Wagar

02/18/2014

With the new farm bill voted and passed by Congress and signed by President Obama, local producers in Bottineau County will see changes from past farm bills.

According to Bottineau County Agent Jared Nelson, ag producers will see a difference in farm subsidies compared to past farm bills.

“The biggest change with the bill is the elimination of the $4.5 billion a year farm subsidy also known as direct payments, that farmers receive each year regardless of whether they farm or not. The shift would be to putting increased funds into crop insurance for the farmers. This would now mean farmers would have to sustain losses in the growing season to receive any payments from the government for that growing year before they can receive any payouts. Farmers will still be able to buy crop insurance at full price without the federal subsidy,” Nelson said.

“The farmers have the choice now to decide between two different options that are a one time, unalterable choice. The programs would be Price Lose Coverage (PLC) or Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC). PLC works in that is the reference price for the particular crop is higher than the U.S. average market price for the crop year, payments will be given out.”

“ARC on the other hand can be done on a county level or individual farm level. ARC payments occur when the actual crop revenue is below the revenue guarantee for a particular year. The coverage for this is anywhere from 76 percent to 86 percent of the county ARC benchmark revenue.”

Conservation programs will also see adjustments in the bill.

“Another change in the new farm bill is the cutting of roughly $4 billion over the next ten years in the Conservation Program which will then increase up to around $6 billion under upcoming cuts to the program,” Nelson said.

“One benefit out of the new bill is that it makes wetland and grassland easement funding permanent, so no new funding is needed for it when the next farm bill comes around.  The new bill reduces the amount of acres enrolled to only 10 million acres with an $18 an acre payment rate on average for land in the program.”

When it comes to organic operations, the Agricultural Act of 2014 also looks at the needs for this type of farming practice.

“The bill increases funding for different research programs. The organic producers will also be able to ensure their crops at prices consistent with retail value,” Nelson said.

Livestock producers were also cared for in the new farm bill when it comes to the Livestock Indemnity Program.

“The Livestock Indemnity Program has been renewed and will cover 75 percent of the market value for the excessive livestock losses due to adverse weather. This includes blizzards, which in North Dakota are fairly common on a yearly basis. This gives farmers the insurance that if we do have a major blizzard in this area and these significant losses do occur, they would not take a huge loss from losing some of their livestock,” Nelson said. “Also included is a Livestock Forage Program for any losses caused by drought or fire.

“Another big part is a program set in place for honey bees. North Dakota is the leading state in the production of honey, and with this new bill in place, it helps give the honey bee producers some insurance as well if they were to take any big losses throughout the year to their bee colonies,” he continued.

The issue of food stamps also became part of the farm bill and assists in the fight against deception with the program.

Nelson said that there are a number of interesting points to the farm bill, but that only time will tell in how the bill will be seen by ag producers.

“With crop insurance becoming the dominant safety net for farmers in the area, it will be interesting to see how this new bill plays out in the next couple years,” he said. “When a bill like this goes through and passes there will always be mixed reviews on a topic of this caliber.”