USDA's Farm Service Agency is about to deploy a mailing campaign to remind farmers they need to enroll for 2019-crop safety net programs -- Ag Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC).
There are 2.3 million farms with base acres, according to FSA, and typically around 1.7 million farms enroll the programs on an annual basis. As of Jan. 27, only 327,408 farms have enrolled, FSA detailed in a notice to state and county offices outlining steps to be taken to make sure that producers meet the March 16 deadline to enroll for 2019.
While county FSA offices have used a "register" when it is not possible for a producer to meet a deadline for enrollment in a program, FSA said the register must not be used "unless a producer is scheduled for an appointment or requests an appointment and the County Office does not have capability to service the producer by March 16, 2020."
FSA said that appointments placed on a register "must be completed as soon as possible after the March 16, 2020, deadline."
Use of the register is not considered an extension of the enrollment deadline. If a valid 2019 election and enrollment on a farm is not filed by March 16, (including enrollment registers), FSA stated, "the farm will remain with default program elections and no payments will be issued for the 2019 crop year."
It is clear that farmers are waiting to gather as much information price-wise or market-wise before they make their choice on whether to go with ARC or PLC for the 2019 crop year.
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