Key crop support improvements, 2002 Farm Bill vs 1996 Farm Bill:

• A counter-cyclical payment coupled with a direct payment to provide a safety net during times of low prices.

• Loan rates will be higher and set at a fixed rate. The Secretary of Agriculture no longer has the discretion to lower loan rates.

• The wheat loan will increase from $2.58 per bushel to $2.80 per bushel.

• Barley loan rates will increase from $1.65 per bushel to $1.88 per bushel.

• Marketing loans and LDPs have been established for pulse crops (dry peas, lentils, chick peas/garbonzo beans).

• Higher minor oilseed loan rates were established. Canola, sunflower and flax loan rates increase to $.096, up from $.093.

• Authority for LDPs on grazed wheat, oats, barley and triticale. 

• A program of incentive payments to develop marketing opportunities for hard white wheat.

Other Features in the New Farm Bill:

• New Country of Origin labeling for meat and perishable fruit and vegetable produce. The labeling is voluntary beginning this fall, and mandatory beginning in 2004. “If your t-shirt has to have a label on it saying where it came from, your t-bone should have to have one too,” says N.D. Congressman Earl Pomeroy.

• Over $1 billion in new spending for rural development, including the creation of regional investment boards that may receive up to $3 million for economic development; $40 million a year for grants to assist producer owned valued-added businesses; and funds that allow rural consumers to receive high-speed, high-quality broadband service.

• Increases funding by $650 million for the Market Access Program to promote value-added agricultural products in international markets.  Also, increased funding of the Foreign Market Development Cooperator Program, with a continued significant emphasis on the importance of the export of value-added agricultural commodities into emerging markets.

• Provides incentives for the production of ethanol and biodiesel.

• Provides greater access to USDA farm credit programs for beginning farmers and ranchers. Increases the percentage that USDA may lend for down payment loans and extends the duration of these loans; and establishes a pilot program to encourage beginning farmers to be able to purchase farms on a land contract basis.

• Creates the Conservation Security Program, a new $2 billion national incentive payment program for maintaining and increasing farm and ranch stewardship practices. Also, increased acreage cap of CRP (from 36.4 million to 39.2 million acres) and increased acreage cap of Wetlands Reserve Program, to 2.275 million acres. The Environmental Quality Incentives Program is expanded, with funds split 60/40 between livestock and crop producers, and priority areas eliminated. A new Grasslands Reserve Program will enroll up to 2 million acres of virgin and improved pastureland. The program will be divided 40/60 between agreements of 10,15, or 20 years and agreements and easements for 30 years and permanent easements.

Sources that contributed information on pages 4-7: Extension Service at North Dakota State University, Montana State University, the University of Minnesota; ND Sen. Byron Dorgan, and ND Sen. Kent Conrad; U.S. Senate and House Ag Committees.

More information about the new farm bill can be found on the USDA’s official website at www.usda.gov/farmbill which will include program details, questions and answers, program applications and sign-up forms, as well as other important materials from USDA agencies on farm bill implementation. The web site will also contain advanced electronic applications to help program applicants receive program benefits faster and more efficiently.

The Minnesota Association of Wheat Growers is preparing an Excel spreadsheet that will help growers decide whether to update their base yields.  The MAWG will also hold meetings in June, which will include briefings on the mechanics of the new farm bill. Computers will be available at these meetings to allow hands-on training on how to use the spreadsheets.  For more information, contact the MAWG at 1-800-242-6118, or visit the web site, www.smallgrains.org