2002 Farm Program Implementation

Date: 7/07
Position Number: II-A-2
Expires: 3/08

Background: NCGA is committed to making farm programs work for producers. We support the following
program provisions.

1. 1. Support the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 as passed, without further amendment.
2. 2. Marketing Assistance Loans:
   1. Oppose any decrease in the corn loan rate.
   2. That the USDA improve the calculation for Loan Deficiency Payments (LDP) to make it more equitable between counties and states.
   3. Support changes in the Loan Deficiency Payment Program (LDP) allowing producers to determine LDP rates on any or all eligible commodities after harvest or up to 30 days prior to the beginning of the marketing year. Payment cannot be made until verification of actual production.
   4. Support continued LDP eligibility for silage, high moisture corn, or mycotoxin-infected or damaged corn.
   5. Support a production deficiency payment tied into average county yields or individual APH for growers who fail to produce a crop.
   6. USDA should revise its rules to give the producer the choice to have their LDP set in the county grown or marketed.
   7. USDA should use the Posted County Price as the average of the two adjusted terminal prices for the county.
   8. Any production from land in conservation compliance should be eligible for marketing loans.
   9. The payment limitation for loan deficiency payments and marketing loan gains should be increased from $75,000 to $150,000. A Loan Certificate progam should be available for producers whose production is greater than their LDP payment limit.
   10. We support a waiver of beneficial interest requirements for LDPs on contract value-added grain delivered to entities such as seed-plants, food plants, farmer-owned ethanol facilities.
3. Work with Congress and the administration to find innovative ways to improve farm income.
4. USDA should put in place uniform policy for all county Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices that treats producers equitably and enhances the ability of producers to access all products and programs available to them through the entire crop year.
5. Support a change in FSA rules that would provide landowners more flexibility and decision making authority regarding the assignment or contribution percentages of base acres between tracts of farmland within an FSA farm unit number.
6. USDA should seek and allocate adequate budget funds to staff county FSA offices with adequate personnell to assure timely implementation of all farm programs. Further timeliness of service to producers should be a condition of the leadership of FSA performance appraisals.
7. Encourage USDA to continue to evaluate and correct inequities of LDP's between counties and states.
8. Encourage USDA to evaluate and correct inequities of PCP’s as compared to local cash prices.
9. Support the development of a successor to the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 prior to the expiration of the legislation.
10. Support livestock/poultry producers in their efforts to verify crop production in a fair and equitable
    manner.
11. Support making LDP’s and Marketing Loan Gains available through 30 days after actual marketing and delivery of grain to allow capture of MLG on overrun.
12. USDA should ensure that after a farmer chooses to update his bases or yields, the Farm Service Agency cannot go back to bases and yields less than what can be proven. Additionally, the producer should be able to update bases and yields as CRP acres are returned to production.
13. Farmers who have planted crops such as sweet corn, hay crops, or pulse crops should not be subject to a reduction of FSA-defined total crop acres in the calculation of farm base.
14. Support the expansion and funding of the USDA inspector generals office to continuously monitor farm program implementation at the state level. While charged with ensuring fair and uniform interpretation and implementation of the farm program nationwide it would also provide fines and disciplinary action for those states which do not enforce uniform implementation of the farm program provisions.
15. Support updating bases and yields by using LDP’s, crop insurance yields, or 3 similar farms, to reflect current cropping practices.