‘Murky water’ for farm bill in Yuba-Sutter
By Andrew Creasey, Appeal-Democrat, Marysville, Calif. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
For the first time since 2008,
The farm bill establishes agricultural and food policy across a number of categories, including horticulture, livestock, conservation, farm credit and rural development. The enacted farm bill, which President
But the fact that the bill was passed doesn't mean that all of its programs were instantly implemented. Regulations and administrative policies are still being written and staff in local
"We haven't been given all the rules for the programs we're going to be operating under," said
"It's kind of murky water at this point as far as what you need to do," said
One major change is known: The elimination of the direct payments program, although the details of what will replace it are still being developed, said
Direct payments have been made to farmers of certain crops, including rice, since 1996, based on historic production of the crop.
But the practice lost political support in recent years because recipients did not need to suffer a crop loss in order to receive a payment, according to a farm bill analysis by the
Since 2002, there have been
"(The loss of the direct payment) will have a direct effect. It helped out a lot to sustain the price and keep it so
A new system that prioritizes risk management and crop insurance will replace the direct payment system. And while it's not known if it will be a dollar-for-dollar trade-off, the new programs that are in the works are a more taxpayer-friendly safety net for farmers and ranchers because they will not issue payments unless a farmer suffers a loss, Dolcini said.
"In an era with higher commodity prices, it was more difficult to rationalize the direct payments over time," Dolcini said.
Direct payments are being replaced by one of two programs: One will trigger if a farmer's average revenue drops below a threshold, while the other triggers when the value of the crop drops below a certain price, set at
"What we're moving from is a program that paid regardless of the price of rice or the yield of a crop," Johnson said. "Growers will go from a period of certainty to a period of having to do some fairly sophisticated analysis to figure out which program to sign up for, then to calculate if they anticipate revenue from the farm bill in any given year."
Most of these provisions will be rolled out this fall or early 2015, Dolcini said. Farmers are encouraged to visit the FSA office,
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