Heitkamp, Thune lead effort on prevented planting
June 05, 2014 | 06:03 PM
Sens. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., and John Thune, R-S.D., today asked Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to include acres of approved prevented planting in the calculation to determine current year revenue for both the individual and county levels under the Agricultural Risk Coverage Program.
The letter from Heitkamp and Thune was also signed by Sens. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., John Hoeven, R-N.D., and Al Franken, D-Minn.
“Loss of a crop due to prevented planting can be just as devastating to a farming operation as production losses due to drought, flooding, or other natural disasters,” the senators wrote.
“Providing the most accurate picture of farm revenue is critical because the calculated threshold will determine which farms will receive assistance and at what levels under both individual and county Agricultural Risk Coverage programs.”
“If prevented planting acres are not properly utilized in the revenue calculation, we are concerned that the program will not provide an adequate safety net for growers in our states and throughout the country when adverse weather conditions result in crops from being planted.”
The senators also called on USDA to exclude prevented planting acreage from the benchmark average yield per farm in order to avoid miscalculations of the average production.
The letter from Heitkamp and Thune was also signed by Sens. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., John Hoeven, R-N.D., and Al Franken, D-Minn.
“Loss of a crop due to prevented planting can be just as devastating to a farming operation as production losses due to drought, flooding, or other natural disasters,” the senators wrote.
“Providing the most accurate picture of farm revenue is critical because the calculated threshold will determine which farms will receive assistance and at what levels under both individual and county Agricultural Risk Coverage programs.”
“If prevented planting acres are not properly utilized in the revenue calculation, we are concerned that the program will not provide an adequate safety net for growers in our states and throughout the country when adverse weather conditions result in crops from being planted.”
The senators also called on USDA to exclude prevented planting acreage from the benchmark average yield per farm in order to avoid miscalculations of the average production.
