Farm Bureau Press for Aug. 10

In Farm Bureau AFBF advocacy toolkit A toolkit developed by the American Farm Bureau Federation is now available to assist farmers and ranchers in their advocacy efforts on trade during the August congressional recess. The toolkit includes a list of town hall-style meetings in targeted states, pro-trade messages, suggested social media posts with graphics, a sample op-ed, myths and facts and additional resources.

This toolkit was developed to support state Farm Bureau efforts to engage grassroots volunteers in conveying the message to lawmakers that the current trade uncertainty needs to end soon.

Download the toolkit at www.fb.org/ tradetoolkit.

FB details farm bill priorities In light of the steep, ongoing downturn in the farm economy, growing farm debt and lost access in some of farmers’ and ranchers’ biggest international markets,

Gov. Asa Hutchinson went on a two-day farm tour Aug. 6-7 across southwest Arkansas.

Here, he is visiting with Elizabeth Walker and others at the farm of Little River County poultry farmer Ricky Fawcett near Winthrop.

Some 50 local farmers, including State Rep. DeAnn Vaught of Horatio, were at the event. on-time completion of the farm bill is a must, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

“The risk management programs in the farm bill help farmers deal with the shifting winds of agricultural markets and help our farmers compete against heavily subsidized commodities produced in foreign markets,” AFBF President Zippy Duvall wrote in a letter to House and Senate agriculture leaders. Both chambers Linda Simpson, Benton Co. FB Women’s Leadership Committee member (right), designed a program called “Tossed” to reduce litter and to boost involvement in the county fair. Participants will gather “tossed” items, create sculptures with them and enter the sculptures in the county fair in August. The Amazeum in Bentonville will display the winning entries. Benton Co. YF&R member Cody Anglin presents Linda with gift cards for awards.

KEITH SUTTON photo

www.arfb.com

have appointed their farm bill conferees, so work on a final bill is expected to soon begin.

The farm bill also helps farmers and ranchers weather natural disasters and provides a degree of certainty that in the event of a price decline or crop loss the operating loans needed to grow another crop, milk cows or care for livestock will come through, Duvall noted.

In the letter, the organization detailed

BENTON CO. FB photo

A Publication of Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation

August 10, 2018 • Vol. 21, No. 16

MADDISON STEWART photo

Senator John Boozman (middle) visited Brantley Farms in Lonoke Co. Aug. 7 to talk with Arkansas farmers. During the meeting, Sen. Boozman gave updates on trade, tariffs and the farm bill. Shown are Luadis (left) and Dow Brantley ArFB President Randy Veach, Vice President Rich Hillman and state board member were also at the meeting.

Duvall said.

Find the full letter by visiting www.fb.org/news/farm-bureau-detailsfarm-bill-priorities.

In Arkansas Feral hogs survey The Arkansas Forest Resources Center launched a survey, the first of its kind in the state, to measure the scope of damage caused by feral hogs in Arkansas and landowners’ perceptions and experiences with the animals.

The main focus of the survey is to measure the economic impact of feral hogs. Landowners will be contacted by telephone and asked to participate in the 10-minute survey.

Feral hogs are a highly adaptable, fastreproducing species. They cause damage to agriculture and wildlife habitat, can contribute to water quality issues, and

MADDISON STEWART photo

aspects of the House and Senate farm bills it supports, such as improvements to the Price Loss Coverage program and the Agriculture Risk Coverage program, as well as those it opposes, like a mandatory base acre update.

Duvall said farmers and ranchers want to maintain funding for conservation programs and prioritize working lands. They do not support permanent Conservation Reserve Program easements or data-sharing practices that jeopardize privacy.

The availability of crop yield and/ or revenue insurance is important to all growers, Duvall emphasized.

Regarding rural programs, farmers and ranchers are encouraging lawmakers to include in the farm bill a grant and loan program to assist with the establishment of agricultural association health plans, among other things.

On the regulatory reform front, the organization is calling for the removal of the national pollutant discharge elimination system permit requirement for approved pesticides and greater flexibility for the transportation of agricultural commodities and livestock, which should also include live fish and crawfish.

The group also highlighted specific concerns with the Senate farm bill conservation title, as it takes a significant step back from progress made in the 2014 farm bill.

“It adds multiple layers of bureaucratic hurdles and consultation requirements, and earmarks redirect funding away from on-the-ground conservation practices,”

Senator Tom Cotton held a roundtable discussion Aug. 8 at the Arkansas Agriculture Department in Little Rock. ArFB President Randy Veach, Vice President Rich Hillman, Treasurer Joe Christian and state board member Mike Freeze were in attendance at the meeting.

spread disease.

A survey of row crop farmers in Arkansas by the National Wildlife Research Center indicated almost a $20 million loss in crop production in 2014.

“This figure is just the tip of the iceberg,” according to Kenny Wallen, assistant professor with the Arkansas Forest Resources Center, part of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture with its headquarters at the University of Arkansas at Monticello.

“Arkansans spend money to repair pastures, fences, and roads, and many studies do not account for losses caused by feral hog activity like soil erosion, loss of wildlife, or the cost of equipment to trap, manage, or hunt feral hogs.”

The multi-organization Arkansas Feral Hog Eradication Task Force has been active for over a year in bringing together state and federal agencies and non-government organizations to address the issue. The task force was created by Act 1010 of the Arkansas Legislature during the 2017 general session and was directed to create a plan for the eradication of feral hogs in Arkansas.

Becky McPeake, extension wildlife specialist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, is a member of the task force and also a professor with the Arkansas Forest Resources Center.

“The task force recognizes that feral hogs are a big issue for landowners in the state, and appreciates the Arkansas Forest Resources Center taking the lead in conducting a survey about economic losses that Arkansans are experiencing from feral hogs,” McPeake said.

“We have been piloting the survey and

it has gone well, with landowners eager and excited to talk about feral hog activity,” said Cindy Bennett, director of the Survey Research Center at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock.

“Although feral hogs may seem like an ideal game species, many hunters change their minds once they see the destruction feral hogs cause to wildlife habitat. Hunters report that more hogs on their hunting lease has resulted in fewer deer, which some recent studies are confirming,” McPeake said.

“This survey is the first of many” according to Wallen. “The Arkansas Forest Resources Center is dedicated to understanding the effects feral hogs have on landowners and sharing our research with the public and others, like the Arkansas Feral Hog Eradication Task Force.”

“When you see UALR on your caller ID in the next few weeks, please answer, we appreciate your help,” Wallen said.

Learn more about managing feral hogs at https://www.uaex.edu/environmentnature/wildlife/feral-hogs.aspx or contact your county extension office.

To learn more about the Arkansas Feral Hog Eradication Task Force, see www.agriculture.arkansas.gov/feral-hogeradication-task-force.

Elsewhere

KEN MOORE photo

Dairy Revenue Insurance Available A new dairy insurance service from American Farm Bureau Insurance Services will bring an extra level of support to a

Perry Co. FB president Chris Branscum harvesting hybrid bermuda grass on his turfgrass farm near Perryville Aug. 7. Branscum has been growing and selling the sod from his farm here since 1989.

dairy sector that has been battered by losses over the past four years.

AFBIS’ Dairy Revenue Protection insurance policy, available by early October, covers potential revenue loss over five quarterly insurance periods.

The insurance product was developed

by American Farm Bureau Federation Chief Economist John Newton in partnership with AFBIS and economists from the University of Minnesota and Cornell University. It fills a demand not met by previous products.

“Farmers have been suffering, and dairy farmers especially,” American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall said. “The number of dairies that have had to close or sell to larger operations is shocking. We have always known revenue protection insurance could help farmers weather this storm, but no one offered it. That’s why AFBIS is stepping up and rolling out this insurance now, when the need is so great. We appreciate the support from the Agriculture Department and look forward to the rollout by October 9.”

USDA officials support the move toward revenue insurance for dairies.

“Expanding the federal crop insurance

program to markets that need it is key to an effective farm safety net. Because of cooperation with partners like the American Farm Bureau Federation, we are able to offer this new product in a way that it can be flexible based on the needs of dairy producers,” Bill Northey, Under Secretary, Farm Production and Conservation, said.

Dairy farmers will have the option to select between class or component pricing options. The class pricing option uses an average of Class III and Class IV milk prices based on the insured’s declared class price weighting factor.

The component pricing option uses butterfat, protein and other solids prices, as well as the declared butterfat and protein test to determine an insured component value of milk. Pricing options allow farmers to customize their price elections more accurately according to individual price risk.

For more information, visit www.dairyrp.com and https://www. fb.org/market-intel/ dairy-revenueEditor Maddison Stewart protection-is-here.

maddison.stewart@arfb.com

In the Market As of August 8, 2018 USDA opens election period for seed cotton program The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 made cotton producers eligible for Title I farm programs by designating seed cotton as a covered commodity. USDA has now opened the signup period for producers who have generic base and who want to participate in the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) or Price Loss Coverage (PLC) program for the 2018 crop. Signup ends on Dec. 7.

Farmer owners with generic base acres and recent planting history of covered commodities have a one-time opportunity to allocate all the generic base acres on their farm. Farms with generic base that were planted or approved as a prevented planted commodity during the 2009-2016 crop years are eligible to allocate generic base acres using one of two options.

• Option 1: Allocate generic base acres on a farm to seed cotton base acres equal to the higher of: • 80 percent of generic base on the farm — the remaining 20 percent goes to unassigned base for which there will be no payments; • Or the average of planted and prevented planted upland cotton acres on the farm in crop years 2009-2012, not to exceed the total generic base acres on the farm.

• Option 2: Allocate generic base in proportion to the 4-year average acreage planted on the farm and prevented from being planted for each covered commodity, including upland cotton, in crop years 2009-2012, to the total acreage planted and considered planted for all covered commodities on the farm.

For farms without planted or considered planted history of covered commodities, including upland cotton, curing the 2009-2016 crop years, all generic base acres will be converted to unassigned base for which no benefits will

be available.

If a farm owner fails to allocate generic base by Dec. 7, the generic base will be allocated to seed cotton base under Option 1.

Current farm owners have a one-time opportunity to update the farm’s payment yield for seed cotton with either retaining the Counter-Cyclical payment yield for upland cotton, as listed on the farm record as of Sept.3, 2013, multiplied by 2.4, or update the cotton yield to 90 percent of a simple average of the upland cotton yield per planted acres on the farm for years 2008-2012. The retained or updated yield becomes the PLC yield for the farm, effective for the 2018 crop year, and will only be used in calculating payment rates for the PLC program.

Following the generic base allocation and yield update, the current producer(s) on the farm will have a one-time opportunity to unanimously elect either ARC or PLC for seed cotton base acres resulting from the generic base allocation.

Any farm that fails to make a unanimous election will be deemed to have elected PLC for acres allocated on the farm to seed cotton.

Texas A&M University has developed an online tool to help farmers with generic base make the best decisions for their individual farms, available here: www.afpc. tamu.edu/tools/cotton-base.

Dairy Margin Protection Program for 2018 is Proving Valuable to Farmers According to an article by AFBF Chief Economist John Newton, the Dairy Margin Protection Program (MPP), thanks to improvements passed in the 2018 Omnibus Budget Act, has resulted in $155 million in program payments through the end of May. More than 21,000 dairy farms have enrolled in MPP for 2018, and it is estimated that once final enrollment is tallied, more than 50 percent of licensed diary operations in the U.S. will be participating, covering 131 billion pounds of milk, representing approximately 60 percent of the U.S. milk supply.

Dairy farmers who haven’t yet enrolled in MPP can use USDA’s online decision tool to help them with potential enrollment decisions. https://www.fsa. usda.gov/programs-and-services/farmbill/farm-safety-net/dairy-programs/mppdecision-tool/index

Rice November rice futures failed at $12 last week, and have now taken a dollar off the market in just a few sessions. Rice futures had been relatively stronger than many other markets, but with harvest in full swing in Louisiana and Texas and 86 percent of the Arkansas crop headed, harvest pressure will be a real factor in the market. Trade concerns also loom large over the market. USA Rice estimates that the impact to the U.S. rice industry from all retaliating markets and Mexico, which has opened an annual zero-duty tariff rate quota for all origins, reducing the NAFTAbased preference, to be $210 million annually, out of a three-year average export value of $1.83 billion. US market share for all rice imports had fallen to 68 percent in May, the lowest level since NAFTA began.

Soybeans November beans have recovered a bit after charting a double bottom just above $8.26, however, after finding resistance at $9.22 ¼, the short-term uptrend has turned mostly sideways. Weekly export inspections were up 30 percent from the year ago total, giving the market a boost.

However, China is expected to cut imports by 10 MMT, and Argentina and Brazil are about a month away from planting bigger crops in order to meet demand in markets that have imposed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. soybeans.

CONTACT • Brandy Carroll 501-228-1268, brandy.carroll@arfb.com.