News : USDA officials explain 2014 Farm Bill deadlines, changes at local meetings

Farmers heard about the changes the 2014 Farm Bill made during a meeting on Tuesday.

The ratio of pickups to minivans in the Oak Grove Church parking lot favored trucks on Tuesday morning, where approximately 50 of the county’s 2,000 farmers gathered for an update on the 2014 Farm Bill.

The new federal law contains a Feb. 27 deadline for making changes to base acres for the PLC (Price Loss Coverage) program. Farmers who do not make any changes by that deadline will be required to use base acres from previous years.

The other deadline, said Patrick Derdzinski, is for choosing one of two options for the ARC (Ag Risk Coverage) program. Those who do not choose one of the options (ARC-CO, which uses the County Level Historic Revenue, or ARC-IC, which uses the Individual Farm’s Historic Revenue) by the March 28 deadline will not be eligible for 2014 crop year payments.

Derdzinski is the director of the USDA office in Benton County. Based on the official government farm numbers, the county has 2,053 separate farms, and just over 2,000 farm owners. The ARC and PRC are new programs put in place by the 2014 Farm Bill, which eliminates the DCP and ACRE programs. Derdinski used a Power Point presentation to highlight the changes and explain the differences between the programs. He told the farmers that the final decision is up to them.

Approximately 25 percent of farm owners have changed their base acres while only about 4 percent have made the ARC elections, Derdzinski told the group.

Tuesday’s meeting was sponsored by Farmers Savings Bank. Two more meetings sponsored by the Benton County Extension and US Bank will take place on Thursday at the US Bank Community Room, at 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. To register for these meetings, contact the Extension Office at 319-472-4739.

Farm owners who have not made changes to their base acres or chosen an ARC option should contact the Benton County USDA Service Center at 319-472-2161.