#2014FarmBillseries

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Note: This website is intended to provide general information about legal issues, crop insurance, farm policy, and other risk management issues and should not be construed as providing legal advice. It should not be cited or relied upon as legal authority. For advice about how the issues discussed here might apply to your individual situation, you should consult an attorney.

Welcome to the Maryland Risk Management Education Blog, provided by the University of Maryland Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics and features the work of the Maryland Crop Insurance Education program and the University of Maryland - MPowering the State's Agriculture Law Education Initiative, a University of Maryland Extension Signature Program. This blog provides readers with information on risk management issues important to Maryland agriculture, upcoming events, and new materials that may interest readers.

Farm Service Agency Finalizes New Rule Covering Actively Engaged For Non-Family Farm Businesses

Paul Goeringer

Jan 11, 2016
4 min

Farm Service Agency Finalizes New Rule Covering Actively Engaged For Non-Family Farm Businesses

The 2014 Farm Bill required USDA to revise the regulations for the term “actively engaged” in agriculture. Back in March, Farm Service Agency (FSA) announced proposed regulations for actively engaged and contributing personal management; see New Actively Engaged Rule Proposed by USDA: What Does It Mean for You?. On December 16, 2015, FSA announced the final regulations for actively engaged for non-family farming operations, which will potentially impact some of your operati

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Whole Farm Revenue Insurance Changed for 2016 Crop Year

Paul Goeringer

Sep 21, 2015
5 min

Whole Farm Revenue Insurance Changed for 2016 Crop Year

By Paul Goeringer and Howard Leathers The 2014 Farm Bill authorized USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) to develop a new type of revenue insurance product: Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP). WFRP provides a risk management tool for all commodities on farms with up to $8.5 million in insured revenue. WFRP is not intended for one specific crop such as corn, wheat, or soybeans like traditional revenue and yield insurance products, but is intended to cover all crops and live

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Paul Goeringer

Jul 8, 2015
1 min

New Farm Bill Publications Available

By Paul Goeringer and Howard Leathers Howard Leathers and Paul Goeringer, both with the Maryland Crop Insurance Education Program, have recently completed two new short publications over the 2014 Farm Bill. The first publication provides estimates of 2014 crop year payments for the Agricultural Risk Coverage – County Option (ARC-Co). USDA recently released data that helps us in estimating potential ARC-CO payments. The publication provides an ARC estimate payment per count

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Commodity Program Choices Under the 2014 Farm Bill: What Did Delaware and Maryland Producers Choose

Paul Goeringer

Jul 6, 2015
4 min

Commodity Program Choices Under the 2014 Farm Bill: What Did Delaware and Maryland Producers Choose

Recently USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) released the enrollment data for the commodity programs under the 2014 Farm Bill. FarmdocDaily recently delved into the enrollment data on a national level (Schnitkey et al., 2015). Nationally, the Agricultural Risk Coverage – County Option (ARC-CO) was the overwhelming pick by farmers for the 2014 Farm Bill (Schnitkey, 2015) . ARC-CO was elected on 76 percent of the program acres, followed by the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) program

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New Actively Engaged Rule Proposed by USDA: What Does It Mean For You?

Paul Goeringer

Mar 30, 2015
3 min

New Actively Engaged Rule Proposed by USDA: What Does It Mean For You?

The 2014 Farm Bill requires USDA to revise the regulations for the term “actively engaged” in agriculture. On March 24, USDA announced proposed regulations for actively engaged. This proposed rule could potentially impact some of your operations. Today, let’s look at who this proposed rule would and would not impact. First, what do we specifically mean by “actively engaged” in agriculture? To be eligible for many Federal farm programs, the individual or the business entit

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Quick Look at Yield Exclusion Option in 2014 Farm Bill

Paul Goeringer

Mar 11, 2015
3 min

Quick Look at Yield Exclusion Option in 2014 Farm Bill

The spring crop is quickly approaching on March 16. Today let’s focus on new crop insurance options provided in the 2014 Farm Bill. One new option is Yield Exclusion (YE). YE allows for producers to exclude specific yields from eligible years from their actual production histories (APH). This exclusion can have an impact on producers’ APHs and crop insurance premiums. Eligible Counties in Maryland To be eligible, the county average planted acreage yield must be 50 percent

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New Commodity Programs: Who Is Considered a Landowner?

Paul Goeringer

Jan 29, 2015
4 min

New Commodity Programs: Who Is Considered a Landowner?

I realize many of you have questions related to the 2014 Farm Bill and the new programs that USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Risk Management Agency are working to implement. Good resources on many of the common questions exist; see AREC’s 2014 Farm Bill Page which is part of our Crop Insurance Extension page to find links to many of those tools. While many of those tools were developed for producers, we may overlook the fact that landowners/landlords potentially will q

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2014 Farm Bill Makes Changes to the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program

Paul Goeringer

Jan 27, 2015
7 min

2014 Farm Bill Makes Changes to the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program

The Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) was established in 1994 and administered by USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA). NAP is a risk management tool for those producers growing crops not currently covered by a crop insurance product. The 2014 Farm Bill reauthorized NAP and made some dramatic changes to the program. NAP now offers coverage from the 50-percent level to the 65-percent level with producers able to buy-up coverage in 5-percent increments at up to 1

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New Crop Insurance Option for Diversified Operations: Whole Farm Revenue Protection

Paul Goeringer

Jan 16, 2015
5 min

New Crop Insurance Option for Diversified Operations: Whole Farm Revenue Protection

By Paul Goeringer and Howard Leathers The 2014 Farm Bill authorized USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) to develop a new type of revenue insurance product, Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP). WFRP provides a risk management tool for all commodities on farms with up to $8.5 million in insured revenue. WFRP is not intended for one specific crop, like corn, wheat, or soybeans like traditional revenue and yield insurance products, but is intended to cover all crops and livest

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Supplemental Coverage Option Now a Part of the Federal Crop Insurance Program

Paul Goeringer

Dec 15, 2014
4 min

Supplemental Coverage Option Now a Part of the Federal Crop Insurance Program

By Paul Goeringer and Howard Leathers Introduction The 2014 Farm Bill created Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO), a new add-on crop insurance option which provides supplemental coverage on a producer’s underlying crop insurance policy. SCO operates by mimicking a producer’s individual crop insurance coverage and increasing the protection to 86 percent of the producers APH yield and price election. An SCO loss payment occurs when the county average actual yield (by NASS) is l

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Upcoming Farm Bill Workshops Announced For Maryland Producers

Paul Goeringer

Oct 29, 2014
2 min

Upcoming Farm Bill Workshops Announced For Maryland Producers

USDA – Farm Service Agency University of Maryland’s Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics (AREC), University of Maryland Extension (UME), Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA), and USDA – Risk Management Agency would like to announce a series of upcoming Farm Bill workshops across Maryland. These workshops will build upon the earlier ones held in August and familiarize participants with final rules, signup deadlines, and how to utilize decision tools to pick t

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Updated: What Do Landlords Need to Know About the 2014 Farm Bill?

Paul Goeringer

Sep 30, 2014
4 min

Updated: What Do Landlords Need to Know About the 2014 Farm Bill?

Last week, I posted on the need for landlords and farms with multiple owners to consider updating their power of attorneys with Farm Service Agency (FSA) to allow tenants or a single landowner the ability to make new farm program decisions. Today, let’s talk about what decisions landlords need to consider making with the tenant, making on his/her own, or just signing a power of attorney and letting the tenant handle. Landlords will need to think about reallocating base acre

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Updated: Updating Your Power of Attorney with USDA

Paul Goeringer

Sep 23, 2014
3 min

Updated: Updating Your Power of Attorney with USDA

This post should not be construed as legal advice. In the coming months, many of you will have important decisions to make regarding the new Farm Service Agency (FSA) programs. Will you select the new Price Loss Coverage (PLC) option, Agricultural Risk Coverage – County Level (ARC-CO), or Agricultural Risk Coverage – Individual Option (ARC-IC)? This decision will not be easy one. Once FSA issues the details, I will put out information on how to use decision making tools un

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