USDA Issues 2016 Safety-Net Payments to North Dakota Farmers

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) North Dakota Farm Service Agency (FSA) Acting State Executive Director, Brian Haugen announced that North Dakota FSA County Offices are currently reviewing and issuing more than $331 million in payments to North Dakota Agriculture Producers under the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs for the 2016 crop year.

The ARC and PLC programs were authorized by the 2014 farm bill and offer a safety net to agriculture producers when there is a substantial drop in revenue or prices for covered commodities. ARC-County, is a county based revenue program where payments can vary by county since average county yields can differ. The PLC program protects against lower prices and is generated on a national scale.

“Of the $331 million in program payments, North Dakota FSA will issue more than $155 million in PLC payments and $176 million in ARC-County payments,” said Laura Heinrich, North Dakota FSA Program Director for the Production Adjustment Department. “Approximately 58,000 North Dakota FSA farms have enrolled in these safety-net programs and will soon receive financial assistance for the 2016 crop year.”

A majority of the North Dakota ARC-County payments will come from wheat and corn base acres. All counties in North Dakota generated the maximum payment rate for wheat due to low prices and most of the corn payments were issued in Northeastern North Dakota where they were affected by excess moisture in growing season 2016.

North Dakota PLC payments were primarily issued from wheat and canola base acres. Other commodities issuing payments under PLC, include corn, oats and grain sorghum.

Enrolled producers can expect to receive their eligible program payments within the next two weeks. The projected payments are after application of sequestration rate of 6.8% and other reductions and limits, including adjusted gross income limits and payment limitations.

In December, payments will be announced after marketing year average prices are published by USDA’s National Agriculture Statistic Service for the remaining covered commodities. Those crops consist of chickpeas and remaining oilseeds, including flax and sunflowers.

Additional program details on the price and yield information used to calculate the financing assistance from the safety-net programs is available on the FSA website at http://www.fsa.usda.gov/arc-plc. You can also contact your local FSA county office for further information.

 

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