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Farm Bill Meeting – Williamson County
11/17/2014 @ 1:30 pm - 3:30 pm
A farm bill education meeting has been set for Monday, Nov. 17, from 1:30-3:30 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Taylor. Producers will receive information on using a decision aid to help enroll in the new farm bill during the meeting.
There is no fee for the program, but producers are asked to preregister by calling the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Williamson County office at 512-943-3300 or online at: http://williamson.agrilife.org/program-registration. The Williamson County Extension Crops Committee will host the event.
AgriLife Extension economist Dr. Jason Johnson of Stephenville will explain general farm program provisions, including producers’ selection of the Price Loss Coverage, known as PLC, or Agricultural Risk Coverage, known as ARC. The presentation will also cover any base and yield update options available and illustrate the data needed to complete the decision-making process.
All of these details can be aggregated in a decision-aid tool, which is available for use by agricultural producers and will be showcased at the program, according to Fred Hall, AgriLife Extension agent in Williamson County. The online decision aid was developed by the Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M University.
“The decision aid simplifies the analysis needed to choose between the PLC and ARC coverages as well as providing insight into complementary crop insurance alternatives,” Hall said. “This farm bill sign-up has lots of ‘moving parts’ that require producers to process quite a bit of data in order to make rational decisions.”
He said a significant emphasis was placed on crop insurance in the farm bill, so the decision aid helps producers identify optimal and viable insurance coverage levels to provide as much of a crop-loss safety net as possible.
Dates associated with ARC and PLC that farm owners and producers need to know include:
– Now until Feb. 27: Landowners may visit local Farm Service Agency offices to update yield history and/or reallocate base acres.
– Nov. 17-March 31: Producers make a one-time election of either ARC or PLC for the 2014 through 2018 crop years.
– Mid-April-summer 2015: Producers sign contracts for the 2014 and 2015 crop years.
– October 2015: Payments for the 2014 crop year, if needed.