News you can use

Farm bill includes new graze-out payments to producers

The new farm bill provides graze-out payments to producers instead of loan deficiency payments for the 2002 to 2007 crop years, the Farm Service Agency says.

The program is available to livestock producers who choose to use acreage planted to wheat, barley, oats or triticale for grazing and agree to forgo any other harvesting on the acreage during the crop year. The producer must retain beneficial interest through the date the crop is grazed out.

The application period for graze-out begins the first day the Farm Service Agency county committee determines mechanical harvest begins, and it ends on March 31 of the calendar year following the year the crop is normally harvested. An application for graze-out may be filed any time during the application period.

Producers who elect to graze the 2002 through 2007 crop of wheat, barley, oats or triticale will not be eligible for an indemnity under the Federal Crop Insurance Act or Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program.

Producers who lease cropland for grazing on a gain or per head per month basis are not considered to have lost beneficial interest and are eligible for graze-out payments on the eligible commodity if all other eligibility requirements are met, the FSA said.

For more information about the graze-out payment program, contact the local Farm Service Agency office or log on to http://www.fsa.usda.gov/mt.

 

Reader Comments(0)