Logan County Illinois FSA Program Deadlines Approaching
Deadlines are Approaching for Base & Yield Update and ARC/PLC Election

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[March 11, 2015]  Base and Yield Update: Deadline is February 27, 2015 - Yield options – Producers may elect to keep their farm’s current counter cyclical (CC) yields or update them to 90% of the 2008-2012 planted average yields.

Your crop insurance production history is the best source for this information. County substitute yields will be used for any year without production or for a year in which your yield is below the substitute yield. Simply bring in your yields and our ARC/PLC program software will perform the math and give you the best options. Failure to provide yield data and obtain an owner's signature (only 1 signature is needed) on the CCC-858 decision form by the February 27th deadline will result in the farm retaining the current counter-cyclical yield.

Base Acre options – Producers have the option to retain the current farm base acreage or select the option to re-allocate the acres based on the 2009-2012 planting percentage of each crop. The county office staff will present you the two options available for your farm(s). There is no need for your to do the math ahead of time. Failure to make a decision to re-allocate the base acres and obtain an owner's signature on the CCC-858 decision form by the February 27th deadline will result in the farm retaining the current base acreage. Power of Attorney's are acceptable.

ARC/PLC Program Election: Deadline is March 31, 2015

MAKE YOUR PROGRAM SELECTION NOW! All producers who hold a share in the crop will need to sign the CCC-857 Program Election Form. We are able to run these contracts after the base/yield decision has been made.

Program Options Include:

County Agriculture Risk Coverage - ARC-CO is a combination of price and yield protection at the county level. It uses a rolling 5 year Olympic average national price and county yield to establish an ARC-CO Benchmark Guarantee. Payments are generated on 85% of the specific crop base acres whenever the actual County Revenue for a specific pay crop falls below the Benchmark Guarantee.

Price Loss Coverage – PLC is strictly a price protection program. Payments are generated on 85% of the specific crop base acres whenever the national marketing year average price falls below the Farm Bill established prices of $3.70 for corn, $8.40 for soybeans, and/or $5.50 for wheat.

Individual Agriculture Risk Coverage - ARC-IC is a combination of price and yield protection at the individual farm level. It uses a rolling 5-year olympic average of national price and your farm’s actual yields to establish an ARC-IC benchmark guarantee. Payments are generated on 65% of the farm's total base acres if the actual total farm revenue falls below the total farm benchmark guarantee.

Please remember that by completing the election process now makes certain that you have met the March 31, 2015 deadline to have the CCC-857 Election form signed by all share participants. Keep in mind that signatures are necessary and sometimes quite an undertaking to obtain, so be sure to allow ample time before the deadlines to acquire the required signatures. Please know that if we do not receive the completed CCC-857 Election Form by close of business on March 31, 2015 the farm will default to the PLC program for crop years 2015-2018 and the farm will not be eligible for a 2014 payment, should one trigger. You do NOT want to miss this deadline.

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PLC/ARC-CO Fast Tool Demonstration Offered

Still on the fence about which program to select? The University of Illinois Fast Tool is available for producers to compare the PLC and ARC-CO program. CED, John Peters, is available to run this spreadsheet at the office. Feel free to stop in to run through this spreadsheet.

Microloan Cap Grows to $50,000

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) reminds farmers and ranchers that the FSA borrowing limit for microloans increased from $35,000 to $50,000 beginning on November 7th. Microloans offer borrowers simplified lending with less paperwork.

The microloan change allows beginning, small and mid-sized farmers to access an additional $15,000 in loans using a simplified application process with up to seven years to repay. Microloans are part of USDA’s continued commitment to small and midsized farming operations.

To complement the microloan program additional changes to FSA eligibility requirements will enhance beginning farmers and ranchers access to land, a key barrier to entry level producers. FSA policies related to farm experience have changed so that other types of skills may be considered to meet the direct farming experience required for farm ownership loan eligibility. Operation or management of non-farm businesses, leadership positions while serving in the military or advanced education in an agricultural field will now count towards the experience applicants need to show when applying for farm ownership loans.

Since 2010, FSA has made a record amount of farm loans — more than 165,000 loans totaling nearly $23 billion. More than 50 percent of USDA’s farm loans now go to beginning farmers. In addition, FSA has increased its lending to traditionally underserved producer groups (ethnic and gender) by nearly 50 percent since 2010.



Please review the FSA Microloan Program Fact Sheet for program application, eligibility and related information.

[Logan County FSA]

 

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