News Update
September 22, 2014
House Passes Jobs Bill
On Sept. 18, the House passed The Jobs for America Act (H.R. 4) by a vote of 253 to 163. Bob McCan, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) president and Victoria, Texas, cattleman said this was a positive move for cattle producers and a solid step toward stabilizing the economy.
“The Jobs bill passed by the House contains a number of priorities for our producer members including some key tax provisions,” said McCan. “The passage of this legislation brings our producers one step closer to having the certainty they need to make financial preparations and needed investments in this tax year.”
Included in the Act is the America’s Small Business Tax Relief Act and other provisions directed toward the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which makes section 179 expensing and bonus depreciation permanent. The bill also contains the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act, requiring Congress to take an up-or-down vote on all new major rules that would have an economic impact of more than $100 million annually before they can be enforced. Additionally, critical for many public lands and western ranchers is the inclusion of the Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act addressing catastrophic wildfire and forest mismanagement.
“Many of the provisions contained in this bill are critical for the cattle industry; legislation that extends certainty in the tax code, reins in the regulatory train wreck our members face from administration agencies like the EPA, and aims to better manage our public lands and resources,” said McCan. “We appreciate the efforts of the House in bringing this bill to the floor and urge the Senate to take action.”
The full Jobs Bill and more information can be found here.
Statement by American Farm Bureau Federation Regarding White House Antibiotic Order
“In light of today’s (Sept. 18) executive order regarding antibiotic resistance, it is important to emphasize that raising farm animals is a 24/7 job, and the health and well-being of livestock is the top priority for farmers and ranchers. Healthy animals mean healthful meat, milk and eggs.
“America’s livestock farmers live on their farms and care about the health of both their families and their animals. Just as parents do not give antibiotics to a child, except when necessary and prescribed by a doctor, farmers don’t rush to treat animals with antibiotics.
“We encourage those developing a strategy on this issue with the goal of protecting our nation’s farms and the American people to continue a dialogue with farmers and ranchers in order to ensure a successful outcome.”
Should You Add SCO Coverage to Crop Insurance for Wheat?
For wheat growers, choosing a crop insurance contract for 2015 just got more complicated with the addition of Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO), a county-level insurance program available through the 2014 Farm Bill.
SCO will be available in select Nebraska counties for wheat in 2015 and more counties to come in early 2015 for spring-planted crops. SCO works in conjunction with a producer’s individual crop insurance policy and is purchased through crop insurance agents. Here are some important points to consider when determining whether SCO is a viable tool for Nebraska wheat growers, as well as linkages between SCO enrollment and individual-insurance-plan crop-insurance coverage level.
Late this year, or possibly in early 2015, landowners will be able to select the Farm Bill commodity program in which they participate. Landowners will choose if they want their whole farm to participate in a revenue program, Individual Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC-IC), or if they want to select County Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC-CO) or Price Loss Coverage (PLC) with SCO on a commodity-by- commodity basis. The sign-up deadline for 2015 SCO winter wheat coverage will occur in advance of other commodity program decisions, complicating the process.
Landowners and tenants intending to plant wheat this fall who have a crop insurance policy and are interested in SCO (SCO enrollment limits other commodity program options to just PLC) need to sign up for 2015 SCO wheat coverage by Sept. 30. For 2015 wheat, because SCO enrollment is happening in advance of other commodity program decisions, farmers will be allowed to withdraw acres enrolled in SCO if they later decide to enroll in either ARC-CO or ARC-IC. SCO wheat enrollment will only matter on farm numbers where wheat is intended to be planted.
Withdrawals of acres from SCO will be allowed until the wheat insurance acreage reporting date, Nov. 15. After this date, producers may still be able to cancel SCO coverage upon choosing ARC-CO or ARC-IC, but can expect a penalty equal to a percentage (20% is expected) of the SCO premium. Thirty-two counties in Nebraska will have SCO coverage for winter wheat in 2015. SCO will have a premium, which is subsidized 65% by the federal government.
Farm program commodity program choices will lead producers to different programs due to producer-specific circumstances. Consequently, it is vitally important to link your farm conditions to perceived program benefits. SCO benefits and costs will vary by producer.
For more information, please view the full release here.
Farm Bill Education Program Slated Oct. 1 at Frost, Texas
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will host a training session on the new Farm Bill provisions Oct. 1 in the auditorium of Frost High School, 208 N. Wyrick St., Frost, Texas.
The program will start at 9 a.m. and last until about noon. There is no charge for the program, and coffee and refreshments will be made available, said Logan Lair, AgriLife Extension agent for Navarro County.
“With the dynamics of this new Farm Bill, it is important for ag producers to take advantage of every opportunity to learn more about it,” Lair said.
Presenters include Jason Johnson, AgriLife Extension economist, Stephenville, and Scott Reed, state commodity compliance program specialist with the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA), College Station.
The meeting will explain general farm program provisions, covering the producer’s selection of the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) or Agricultural Risk Coverage, (ARC), according to Lair. 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 that is available for use by agricultural producers and will be showcased at the program, according to Reed.
“The online decision aid available to producers was developed by the Agricultural and Food Policy Center of the agricultural economics department at Texas A&M University,” Reed said. “The decision aid simplifies the analysis needed to choose between the PLC and ARC coverage, as well as providing insight into complementary crop-insurance alternatives.”
“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,” Lair said. “A significant emphasis was placed on crop insurance by Congress, so this decision aid will help producers identify optimal and viable insurance coverage levels to provide as much of a crop-loss safety net as possible.”
“Livestock producers, who endured drought conditions for the last three years, no longer have to wait for assistance,” Reed said. “All interested livestock producers, regardless of operation size, location or type, should join us to learn more about available USDA drought recovery benefits.”
For more information, please view the Angus Journal Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events here.
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