USDA Abandons Farm Payment Limit Reform

March 25, 2015 Leave a comment


Lyons, Nebraska – Today USDA issued their proposed rule to define what it means to be “actively engaged in farming,” and therefore eligible to receive federal farm payments.
“The purpose of revising the actively engaged definition was to make farm payment limits more effective,” said Traci Bruckner, Senior Associate at the Center for Rural Affairs. “USDA is, however, clearly more interested in defending the interests of mega-farms by preserving loose definitions that will continue to allow the nation’s largest farms to avoid meaningful payment limits.”
“This is not reform,” added Bruckner. “In 2007, while campaigning in Iowa for his first election, President Obama promised to close these loopholes, and so did Vice President Biden. But when given yet another opportunity to fulfill that promise, the White House and Secretary Vilsack took a pass, again.”
“The lack of effective payment limitations has resulted in federal farm programs financing farm consolidation and the elimination of many mid-size family farms….Barack Obama and Joe Biden will close the loopholes that allow mega farms to get around the limits by subdividing their operations into multiple paper corporations.  They will take immediate action to close the loophole by proposing regulations to limit payments to active farmers who work the land….Every President since Ronald Reagan has had the authority to close this loophole without additional action by Congress, but has failed to act.” President Barack Obama, writing as a candidate for President in his rural platform – Obama-Biden: Real Leadership For Rural America
According to Bruckner, Secretary Vilsack has said since the passage of the 2014 Farm Bill that the bill ties his hands and he can not apply any new rule to farms structured solely of family members.
“We have disagreed with that premise from day one, and this rule does nothing more than say the largest and wealthiest farms structured solely of family members are not subject to this new rule or any payment limitation,” argued Bruckner.
Most of the few farms this rule would impact, those structured as non-family member operations, will surely work with an attorney to reorganize their operations to be structured solely of family members to evade any payment limitations, Bruckner concluded.

Filed under Community Tagged with , , , ,

Farm Bill and Landlord/Tenant Cash Lease Meeting

January 15, 2015 Leave a comment


Farm Bill Meeting AND Landlord/Tenant Cash Lease Meeting – Friday, January 23

By John Wilson, Extension Educator

Two of the most discussed topics in crop production, the new Farm Bill and Cash Leases, will be covered at two separate meetings on Friday, January 23. Both programs will be held at the Central Valley Ag East Hub three miles north of Oakland or three miles south of Lyons on Highway 77, then 1/4 mile west on County Road O.

 

Morning (9:00 a.m. – noon): FARM BILL MEETING

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension and the Farm Service Agency (FSA), have been teaming up to provide educational meetings about the 2014 Farm Bill. All farm operators and land owners are invited and encouraged to attend.

FSA will inform participants about the sign-up process for the Farm Bill including the documentation needed and the deadlines for sign-up. Nebraska Extension will provide information about the decisions that will need to be made for base acre reallocation, yield updates, and for the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) vs. Price Loss Coverage (PLC) program selection.

It will be helpful to attend to get insight on the options everyone has with the 2014 Farm Bill. Farm operators and land owners will have three main steps to signing up.

  • One is to review their current base acre allocations which is occurring at this time.
  • Secondly, a decision about re-allocation of base acres will need to be made.
  • Finally, the program selection will involve the ARC or PLC program.

ARC is the revenue safety net program similar to the recent ACRE program and PLC is the price safety net program. With ARC, the options will be an Individual ARC coverage vs. a County ARC coverage. With PLC, the available Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) will be discussed. Decisions made for this Farm Bill in 2015 will be final for the duration of the Bill.

 

Noon – 12:45 p.m.: LUNCH (Important – Please RSVP!)

After the morning meeting, a complimentary lunch will be provided by Central Valley Ag. Those wanting to leave after lunch may do so, or they may stick around for the afternoon program. Those coming in for the cash lease program only are invited to join us at noon for lunch and then attend the afternoon program.

☞ To assist us in planning for how many to expect for lunch, please call or email Julie Hall at 402.374.1920, extension 2, orjulie.hall@ne.usda.gov or John Wilson at 402.374.2929 or jwilson3@unl.edu by Tuesday, January 20. If your plans change at the last minute, don’t let that prevent you from attending. This is to just give us a rough idea of how many will be attending!

 

Afternoon (12:45 – 3:00 p.m.): LANDLORD/TENANT CASH LEASE MEETING

Arriving at a fair cash rental rate is difficult when land and commodity prices are stable. However, throw in volatility for either of these variables… or for production costs… and the challenge just got even greater. Cash rental rates are probably one of the most cussed and discussed topics in crop production.

This program will help landlords and tenants establish and maintain a positive farm leasing relationship and deal with the volatility of their cash rental rates. Landlords try to be loyal to their tenants, yet want a fair return for the land asset. Tenants want to be sure to stay in business, yet feel the pressure of bidding to keep the land base that they have been farming.

Topics for discussion include: lease communication – determining appropriate information sharing for both the tenant and landlord, variable cash rental arrangements, and review of current land values and cash rental rates. It is very helpful if both the tenant and landlord can attend together.

Putting together the right lease isn’t about what is being discussed at the coffee shop, or what a university survey of cash lease rates says; it is about what fits both the landlord and tenant for their circumstance and situation. Attending this presentation will provide a set of ideas to work from as those specifics are discussed.

 

Filed under News Tagged with ,

Farm Bill Education Meeting

November 19, 2014 Leave a comment


Farm Bill Education Meeting – Monday, November 24

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension and the Farm Service Agency (FSA), are teaming up to provide educational meetings about the 2014 Farm Bill. The meeting in Burt County will be held on Monday, November 24, 9:00 a.m. to noon, at the city auditorium in Tekamah.

 

All farm operators and land owners are invited to attend. FSA will inform participants about the sign-up process for the Farm Bill including the documentation needed and the deadlines for sign-up. UNL Extension will provide information about the decisions that will need to be made for base acre reallocation, yield updates, and for the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) vs. Price Loss Coverage (PLC) program selection.

 

It will be helpful to attend one of the meetings to get insight on the options everyone has with the 2014 Farm Bill. Farm Operators and Land Owners will have three main steps to signing up.

 

  • One is to review their current base acre allocations which is occurring at this time.
  • Secondly, a decision about re-allocation of base acres will need to be made.
  • Finally, the program selection will involve the ARC or PLC program.

 

ARC is the revenue safety net program similar to the recent ACRE program and PLC is the price safety net program. With ARC, the options will be an Individual ARC coverage vs. a County ARC coverage. With PLC, the available Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) will be discussed. Decisions made for this Farm Bill sometime in 2015 will be final for the duration of the Bill.

 

Farm Bill Education Meetings are being held in most Nebraska Counties. Each meeting will last approximately three hours. Other meetings in our area include:

Date                            Time               Town              Location

Monday, Nov. 24        1:00 p.m.         West Point       Nielson Center

Tuesday, Dec. 2         9:00 a.m.         Pender            Fire Hall

Thursday, Dec. 11      1:00 p.m.         Arlington          Fairgrounds

Monday, Dec. 15        9:00 a.m.         Scribner          Mohr Auditorium

 

For more information or assistance contact your local FSA or UNL Extension Office. For more information about the 2014 Farm Bill, go to www.farmbill.unl.edu or www.fsa.usda.gov/farmbill.

 

Filed under Community Tagged with , , ,

President Obama Signed Farm Bill

February 10, 2014 Leave a comment


Lyons, Nebraska  – Today, President Obama signed the Farm Bill into law while in East Lansing, Mich., at Michigan State’s Mary Anne McPhail Equine Performance Center.  President Obama touted the legislation’s benefits to a prosperous agricultural sector and, consequently, to the nation’s overall economy. However, criticism of the Farm Bill’s lack of reform of farm programs still remains.

“We opposed the final Farm Bill that came out of the Conference Committee,” said Traci Bruckner, Senior Policy Associate with the Center for Rural Affairs. “But the President signed the bill, which means he is accepting the responsibility of making the Farm Bill work, improving upon it, and closing the farm payment limitation loopholes that Congress punted to the Administration.”

According to Bruckner, the conference report stripped out bipartisan reforms, which passed both House and Senate, and would have tightened the definition of being “actively engaged” in farming – a loophole that mega-farms use to gain additional payments by defining passive investors as qualified farmers, even though those investors provide no real labor or management on the farm. Moreover, this Farm Bill actually increases farm payment limits from $50,000 to $125,000 for the primary commodity program.

“President Obama now has the opportunity to deliver on the promise he made to rural and small town Americans while campaigning for President in Iowa in 2007,” added Bruckner.

In the President’s speech before signing the bill, he noted that there are big producers who are doing well, but many small farmers scratching out a living. He also added that it is hard for young people to get started in farming. But failing to clean up this farm program loophole mess will only make matters worse, Bruckner explained.

“If, however, the President is serious about reforming farm programs, living up to the promise he made to close the “actively engaged” loopholes is the best and most crucial place to start,” Bruckner concluded. “Congress put the ball in his court, we urge him to pick it up and take his best shot.”

Filed under Community Tagged with ,

Center for Rural Affairs Addresses Farm Bill

February 1, 2014 Leave a comment


Lyons, Nebraska – Last night, the House and Senate farm bill conference committee sent a compromise bill back to both chambers for a final, up-or-down vote. The Conferees had been working to reconcile the farm bills passed in the two chambers last year.

“We oppose the bill as reported out of conference committee,” said Traci Bruckner, Senior Policy Associate with the Center for Rural Affairs. “The conference report stripped out bipartisan, bicameral actively engaged payment limitation reforms that passed both chambers. Moreover, it actually increases the nominal payment limits nearly threefold over current law.”

At a time of tight budgets, increasing rural poverty and growing income inequality this bill takes rural and small town America in the wrong direction.  Virtually unlimited farm program payments will continue to inure to the nation’s largest and wealthiest mega-farms. Those operations will continue to drive up land prices, drive their smaller neighbors out of business and limit opportunities for beginning and family farmers, Bruckner explained.

“We urge the House to reject the bill as reported out and send it back to conference for inclusion of the payment limit provisions,” said Bruckner.

Bruckner went on to explain that as the President delivers his State of the Union address tonight, he is expected to speak to growing income inequality. But this farm bill serves as an example of legislation that drives up rural income inequality. She called up the Administration to also urge Congress to return this bill to conference and include the provisions on payment limits and closure of loopholes.

Filed under Community Tagged with ,