News Briefs

Fewer Peanut Acres Predicted USDA’s Agricultural Statistics Service issued the first crop acreage estimate late March and predicted peanut acreage to be down 9 percent. According to the report, producers intend to plant 1.48 million acres in 2016 versus last year’s 1.62 million acres. The expected decrease in planted area, per USDA, is largely driven by price concerns due to ... Read More »

U.S. Peanut Crop Value According to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, the price of peanuts averaged 19 cents per pound or $380 per ton last season, 13.6 percent lower than 2014. The value of the 2015 peanut crop at farm level is $1,186,903,000, a 2.3 percent increase from 2014. The highest average price was paid in North Carolina at $474 ... Read More »

Purchasing Commodity Certificates The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced that producers who have crops pledged as collateral for a marketing assistance loan can now purchase a commodity certificate that may be exchanged for the outstanding loan collateral. The authority is provided by the 2016 Consolidated Appropriations Act, legislation enacted by Congress in December. Commodity certificates are available beginning with ... Read More »

Program Enrollment Now Open Although a producers’ choice between Price Loss Coverage (PLC) and Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) is completed and remains in effect through 2018, producers must still enroll their farm by signing a contract each year to receive coverage, says Farm Service Agency administrator Val Dolcini. The enrollment period will continue until Aug. 1, 2016. Producers are encouraged ... Read More »

CRS Completes Program Review The Congressional Research Service has issued an updated review of the peanut program and explains how the new program favors peanut production on generic base acres. Almost all peanut growers selected the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) program because they expected it to provide higher payments and greater risk protection than would be available under Agricultural Risk ... Read More »

Crop Insurance Update The 2015 crop is the first year that peanut producers could insure their crop with the same options offered for other crops. Peanut revenue insurance options were introduced through the cooperative efforts of AgriLogic Consulting, Georgia Peanut Commission, Western Peanut Growers Association, key industry representatives and the USDA Risk Management Agency. The revenue insurance options allow for ... Read More »

In March, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued their proposed rule to define what it means to be “actively engaged” in farming and, therefore, eligible to receive federal farm payments. After review by the Southern Peanut Farmers Federation (SPFF) members, there are important issues that concern Southern agriculture including, but not limited to, the limits on the number of ... Read More »

The Georgia Federal Station Inspection Service has initiated a project with the goal of improving and enhancing grading equipment and procedures that have been in use for the past 70 years while continuing to achieve the same end result. Officials say they believe a more efficient and economical method for grading farmer-stock peanuts can be found. A committee of 10 ... Read More »

USDA To Limit Non-Farmer Payments USDA has announced a proposed rule to limit farm payments to non-farmers, consistent with requirements Congress mandated in the 2014 Farm Bill. The proposed rule limits farm payments to individuals who may be designated as farm managers but are not actively engaged in farm management. In the Farm Bill, Congress gave USDA the authority to ... Read More »

USDA Offers Farm Bill Extension In February, agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack approved a one-time extension for producers to update yield history or reallocate base acres. This was the same deadline by which producers were to choose a program, whether Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC). If no changes are made to yield history or base acres by ... Read More »