Published: July 02, 2009 05:16 am      

Producers need to make decision soon

The time is rapidly approaching when farmers need to decide whether to remain in the traditional Direct-Countercyclical-Program or to choose the alternative, Average Crop Revenue Election.

Because the programs are complicated and difficult to understand, a series of three meetings are being held about them for producers in Ellis, Harper and Woodward counties, according to Dana Bay, OSU Extension Educator-Agriculture-4-H.

The meetings, titled “Farm Bill Meetings, Which Way to Go,” will be held Tuesday, Bay said in a news release.

The meetings will feature Northwest Area Economist Rodney Jones of Oklahoma State University, who will explain the programs.

According to Mark Jackson of the Woodward County Farm Service Agency, who also will attend the meetings, ACRE is very complicated.

“This year’s Farm Bill brought about ACRE,” Jackson said.

Producers have until Aug. 14 to decide whether to go with one program or to stay with the traditional (DCP) program that has been in effect for 10 years, Bay said.

According to Jones, ACRE is an alternative to the (DCP) program.

“It provides for losses at the state and farm level,” he said.

SURE, another government program that will be covered at the meetings is “more of a disaster program that may have reimbursement for farmers as well,” Jones said.

“Given the workload and schedules at local FSA offices, producers should not wait until the last minute (to decide on a program),” Bay said.

The first meeting will be held at 9 a.m. Tuesday in Buffalo at the Harper County Fair Building.

The second meeting will be held at 1 p.m.at the Arnett Fire Station in Arnett, and the third meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the Woodward County Fair Building, she said.

Topics to be discussed include Average Crop Revenue Election, Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments, and the Oklahoma ACRE Decision Tool. The decision tool is a computer-based tool specifically designed for Oklahoma producers to help them in the decision between ACRE and DCP.

Each meeting will cover the same information, Bay said.

Producers from Ellis, Harper, Woodward and surrounding counties are invited to attend the meeting most accommodating to their schedule.

For more information about the meetings, call Bay at (580) 254-3391.

To help with planning, Bay asks that producers RSVP to their local office.