FARM BILL RULES EXPECTED "SOON" Representatives of the Oregon
Wheat Growers League journeyed to Washington this week, to visit several
offices on Capitol Hill and in the Administration. Their visits follow up
on similar stops made by the Washington Association of Wheat Growers last
week.
Several issues were covered in a meeting with FSA Deputy Administrator
for Farm Programs John Johnson, Deputy Administrator for Commodity
Operations Bert Farrish, and other senior managers within the Farm Service
Agency. FSA is working on a fix for the power of attorney situation, which
will provide some relief in limited situations to the requirement for new
powers of attorney for the farm bill. The new procedure, when announced,
will apply only in the case of a person who signed the previous power of
attorney and has become incapacitated. Notice to states and counting
offices is expected to be delivered within the next two weeks.
Loan rates for 2003 are expected to be announced “soon”, but no firm
date has been established. USDA expects to make payments under the program
beginning in October, and the rules must be published and much paperwork
completed prior to those payments being issued. FSA confirmed that there
is a significant discount schedule for durum which does not meet quality
specifications and is intended to go under loan, with discounts tied to
falling numbers and vitreous kernels. However, those discounts do not
apply if a producer elects to take the LDP instead of forfeiting grain
under loan. Producers who elect the LDP route will still be faced by
quality discounts for off-grade durum in the market.
For the purpose of yield updating, FSA confirmed that any yield proven
for crop insurance purposes will be acceptable for proving yields for the
commodity program. This does not include yields that were simply certified
by the grower, but only yields that were actually proven for crop
insurance purposes.
The issue of constructive receipt for payments was also raised. NAWG
and is working with Congressional staff to determine if this issue was
resolved in the Farm Bill, or was overlooked. Without a favorable outcome,
producers could be obligated for taxes on payments they had not yet
received.
The Hard White Wheat Incentive Program rules, contrary to earlier
indications, are not as far along in the process as the regulations for
the major farm program provisions. While the agency confirmed that the
provisions are largely what was proposed by the industry consulting group,
the fact that this program is targeted at a fairly small potential
audience of one crop and a few states has caused it to receive lower
priority than to the bigger and broader regulations in the package. At
this point, producers will be making planting decisions without knowing
for sure what the USDA program will look like, but everyone expects that
it will look very similar to the industry proposal forwarded to USDA by
NAWG. This would include an incentive payment of 20 cents per bushel, an
effective yield cap of 60 bushels per acre, and an advance incentive for
use of certified seed.
