The American Farm Bureau Federation has produced a new series of videos available online to help farmers and landowners get a better understanding of the 2014 farm bill. John Anderson, deputy chief economist with AFBF says the videos will chisel the massive and complex legislation down to Farm Bureau’s understanding of the commodity program and crop insurance provisions.
“It’s a thousand page bill that includes lots and lots of other things besides commodity program information, but what we want to do is focus on commodity programs that are relevant to major program crops,” he said. “So we’re going to be focused on Title I and Title XI of the farm bill. That’s the commodity title and the crop insurance title.”
Typically the focus on the commodity title means delving into Title I, but Anderson says there is much in Title XI, the crop insurance title that impacts Title I in this bill. One new feature is the ability to buy a supplemental policy to go along with individual crop insurance plans.
“There is a new crop insurance product called the Supplemental Coverage Option. SCO is an area-triggered insurance that will cover part of a producer’s crop insurance deductible. So if for example you’re buying revenue protection at the 70 percent coverage level, SCO will be an additional product that you can purchase that will cover part of that 30 percent deductible that you have on your 70 percent RP.”
Anderson added it’s very important to note “that it’s not an individual policy, it’s an area triggered policy. So it’s a product that will pay out when there are losses at the area level, which primarily will mean at the county level.”
Videos will also cover the new dairy title and the Price Loss Coverage and Supplemental Coverage Option. Links to useful farm bill information from USDA, land-grant universities, and other organizations also are available on the AFBF website.