By: Chris Bruynis, Assistant Professor and Extension Educator, Ross County
Many farmers are under the belief that they have completed all the necessary steps needed to complete the sign-up for the 2014 farm bill programs. They made the yield update and base acre reallocation decisions and then they made the ARC/PLC decision for each farm. So what decision is left to make? Just as it has been in previous years, farmers still need to enroll in the farm bill program. The enrollment window has been announced and will begin June 17, 2015, and will end Sept. 30, 2015.
The concern is if farmers do not know they have one more paper to sign at FSA they will lose out on any potential benefits, especially since this enrollment period will include both 2014 and 2015. If farmers do not enroll their farms, then all the previous decisions on reallocations, updates, and program choice were all for nothing. Also if landowners or farmers choose not to update yield, reallocate base acres, and make a program election, they can still enroll a farm into the new farm bill program. These farms would simply keep their existing yields and bases and will default to Price Loss Coverage (PLC) as their program choice.
Farmers are encouraged to contact Farm Services Agency and make an appointment to enroll their farm(s) into the 2014 farm bill programs. Also do not forget to certify your 2015 planted acres with FSA. This is important to maintain the farm history, to determine farm bill payments under ARC-Individual, and provide information for future farm bill programs.