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USDA released a more than 300-page guidance booklet to county Farm Service Agencies late last week. The booklet is meant to clarify how new farm bill payment eligibility, payment limit and adjusted gross income rules will be implemented.
This clarification has been called for by the agricultural community since an interim final rule on these subjects was issued in late December 2008. Though the rule is not yet final for the 2010-2012 crop years, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has said its provisions will apply for the 2009 crop year.
Commodity groups continue to examine the new guidance information and an initial review indicates USDA did adopt some recommendations from the commodity community, especially in the area of spousal qualification for program payments.
To access the booklet, visit: www.fsa.usda.gov/Internet/FSA_File/4pl-a1.pdf.
Southern senators want changes
U.S. Senators Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Ranking Republican Member on the Senate Agriculture Committee, Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee Subcommittee on Production, Income Protection and Price Support, and other southern state senators sent a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack requesting the Department to implement the rules and regulations pertaining to new Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) and payment limit reforms to accurately reflect Congressional intent.
The senators said in the letter that the interim rule, as published on December 29, 2008, strays from congressional intent and could adversely affect American producers and farm operations throughout the country. They also reminded the Department that the 2008 farm bill does not require any changes in the way individuals or entities are determined to be "actively-engaged" in farming. Additionally, the senators added that interjecting unnecessary changes will not only cause further confusion but also go well beyond the congressional intent.
The USDA has extended the comment period for this interim rule for 60 days, which was originally set to end on January 28, 2009. The extended comment period still provides USDA with adequate time to make changes to the interim rule for the 2009 crop year. The deadline to sign up for the Direct and Counter-Cyclical Program (DCP) and Average Crop Revenue Program (ACRE) is June 1, 2009.
In announcing the rule extension, Vilsack had said the interim rule would be implemented for the 2009 year, but 2010-2012 crop years could still be affected by changes in the law.
Policy is one of the most important issues facing farmers today, but often the most difficult to digest. Jacqui Fatka has a passion to decode the often difficult world of agricultural policy into terms understandable for today's ag players.
Fatka joined the Farm Progress team as E-Content Editor in August 2003 after graduating from Iowa State University. Prior to full-time employment with Farm Progress, she interned at Wallaces Farmer magazine, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley's press office and the Iowa Pork Producers Association and freelanced for National Hog Farmer. She also worked as a public relations consultant with Iowa Industries for the Future, an effort to bring together major players in the biorenewables industry.
Currently Fatka is a staff editor at a sister publication, Feedstuffs. For Farm Futures she regularly tells the story of ongoing agricultural policy changes. Her byline can also be found on management profiles.
Fatka grew up on a grain and livestock farm near Atlantic, Iowa. She currently lives in central Ohio with her husband Eric.
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