Friday May 1 Ag News

Ricketts Proclaims May as “Beef Month” in Nebraska

Today, at his daily press briefing, Governor Pete Ricketts proclaimed May as “Beef Month” in Nebraska.  He also overviewed the actions the State has taken to assist meat processors with their health and safety practices.

Steve Wellman, Director of the Nebraska Department of Agriculture, and Buck Wehrbein, Federation Division Chair for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, joined the Governor to celebrate Beef Month.  Shelly Schwedhelm, Executive Director of Emergency Management and Biopreparedness for Nebraska Medicine, also took part in the press conference.  She announced the availability of a new guide that offers best practices and recommendations for meat processors as they work to minimize the risk of coronavirus.  Shelly and a team of experts have toured 11 meatpacking plants over the past two weeks to provide technical assistance and further develop the guidance document, titled “Meat Processing Facility COVID-19 Playbook.”

Gov. Ricketts: Beef Month
·       Today we are celebrating Beef Month in Nebraska.
·       Beef has been a part of Nebraska’s rich history since the beginning of our state.
o  Hard-working men, women, and families came to Nebraska to pioneer the cattle industry.
o  The cattle industry grew, and it is the largest driver of our largest industry, agriculture.
·       When we think of beef, we often think of ranches, pastures, and rolling hills.  But it’s more than that.
o  It’s a main economic driver in our state.  It generates jobs throughout the entire supply chain.
o  Corn and soybean producers, feed grain suppliers, processers, packers, grocery retailers, and more are intricately connected with our beef industry.
·       The last ten years have been a decade of growth for Nebraska beef exports, with a 96% increase in total beef exports.

Director Wellman: Beef Month
·       Nebraska is known as the “Beef State” because of the wonderful, high-quality, and safe beef we produce here.
·       Our Sandhills grasslands and abundant water resources make Nebraska a great place to raise cattle.
·       Over the years, our ranchers have made substantial investments to improve how they operate.
·       We produce the same amount of beef in 2020 as we did in 1970 with one-third of the animals.

Buck Wehrbein: Beef Month
·       A year ago, our cattlemen faced floods and now we’re fighting a virus.  It’s been a powerful one-two punch.
·       Despite these challenges, our ag producers are committed to producing our premium beef.
·       We rely on food processors to help our beef reach the tables of our customers.  We’re grateful for what they do.
·       People are cooking more and eating at home more often right now. 
·       Nebraskans can go to beefitswhatsfordinner.com to find tips on cooking various cuts of meat as well as great recipes to try.

Shelly Schwedhelm: Meatpacking Safety
·       I grew up on a dairy farm and currently live on a beef farm.  I’ve also studied infectious disease and have been applying this knowledge to agricultural production.
·       The University of Nebraska Medical Center’s (UNMC’s) Global Center for Health Security has developed a new playbook for meat processors to prevent COVID-19.  You can access it by clicking here.
·       We’ve identified many best practices for meat processors:
o  Adding physical barriers.
o  Changing air flows.
o  Implementing physical distancing strategies for breaks and lunches.
o  Doing screenings as workers come to the facility.
o  Providing masks for workers.
·       Our team of infectious disease experts at UNMC has now physically visited 11 plants and virtually toured others.  We have additional on-site visits scheduled for next week.



May is Beef Month in Iowa

The Iowa Beef Industry Council is pleased to announce that May is Beef Month in Iowa. Governor Kim Reynolds has signed the May Beef Month proclamation in recognition of the importance of Iowa’s beef industry to the state’s economy. The Iowa Beef Industry Council is pleased to present the following proclamation.

    Whereas Iowa is a major beef producing state with nearly 4 million head of cattle on January 1, 2020; and

    Whereas the beef industry contributes greatly to our economy by generating approximately $4 billion in cash receipts for cattle and calves, equal to nearly 15 percent of all Iowa agricultural cash receipts; and

    Whereas today's beef is a naturally nutrient-rich food providing protein, iron, zinc and B-vitamins with more than 30 beef cuts that meet the government’s definition for “lean”; and

    Whereas Iowa is a leader in the export of value-added agriculture products, shipping high-quality Iowa beef to other countries around the world; and

    Whereas there is an ever-increasing need for better understanding of the benefits that the beef industry provides to all Iowans.

    Now therefore, I, Kim Reynolds, Governor of the State of Iowa, do hereby proclaim the month of May 2020 as Beef Month in Iowa, and urge all citizens to appreciate the contributions Iowa’s beef industry continues to provide to our state.



Fortenberry Designated Nebraska Farm Bureau “Friend of Agriculture”

U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry has been designated a “Friend of Agriculture” by NEFB-PAC, Nebraska Farm Bureau’s political action committee. Fortenberry, who is seeking re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives in Nebraska’s First Congressional District, received the designation based on his ongoing efforts to advance the well-being of Nebraska’s farm and ranch families, said Mark McHargue of Central City, chairman of NEFB-PAC and first vice president of Nebraska Farm Bureau.

“Congressman Fortenberry has worked on several key issues of interest to our members. He’s been supportive of expanding market opportunities for agricultural products through new and specialty markets. He voted to support major tax reform to help lower the tax burden on Nebraska’s farm and ranch families. He’s also been a leader in working to find solutions to skyrocketing health care costs that have created significant financial hardships on farmers and ranchers,” said McHargue.

As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, Fortenberry has played a critical role in funding essential federal initiatives, while working to bring fiscal responsibility to Washington.

“Congressman Fortenberry has continued to demonstrate a strong commitment of service to agriculture. We’ve greatly appreciated his efforts and are proud to count him among those receiving our “Friend of Agriculture” designation,” said McHargue.



Free Farm and Ag Law Clinics Set for May

Free legal and financial clinics are being offered for farmers and ranchers at seven sites across the state in May 2020. The clinics are one-on-one meetings with an agricultural law attorney and an agricultural financial counselor. These are not group sessions, and they are confidential.
COVID-19: Due to the one-on-one nature of these session, organizers plan on continuing to provide this service, however, they will take necessary precautions and adjust plans as conditions change.

The attorney and financial advisor specialize in legal and financial issues related to farming and ranching, including financial and business planning, transition planning, farm loan programs, debtor/creditor law, debt structure and cash flow, agricultural disaster programs, and other relevant matters. Here is an opportunity to obtain an independent, outside perspective on issues that may be affecting your farm or ranch.

Clinic Sites and Dates
    Fairbury - Wednesday May, 13th
    Grand Island - Wednesday, May 13th
    Norfolk - Wednesday, May 20th
    Lexington, Thursday, May 21st
    North Platte - Wednesday, May 27th
    Valentine - Wednesday, May 27th

To sign up for a free clinic or to get more information, call the Nebraska Farm Hotline at 1-800-464-0258. Funding for this work is provided by the Nebraska Department of Agriculture, and Legal Aid of Nebraska.



Nebraska Grain Sorghum Board Praises Resumption of Sorghum Imports to Vietnam

The Nebraska Grain Sorghum Board (NGSB) praised the announcement that Vietnam will resume importation of sorghum beginning on May 1st, 2020. Vietnam boasts the world’s fastest-growing economy, expanding at a rate of 8%-10% year over year for the past decade.

NGSB staff participated in Governor Ricketts’ trade mission to the country in September 2019, working alongside Nebraska Department of Ag leadership, USDA Plant and Animal Health Inspection Service (APHIS) staff, the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam, and US Grains Council representatives in Southeast Asia to encourage Vietnamese acceptance of APHIS-proposed phytosanitary protocols respective to sorghum. NGSB also thanks the United Sorghum Checkoff, Sorghum Growers and many other sorghum-focused organizations also contributed to the approval of the phytosanitary agreement for sorghum importation by the Vietnamese government.

“Increasing value-added markets for sorghum, whether at home or abroad, is critical to the success of Nebraska sorghum growers, said Nate Blum, Executive Director of the Nebraska Grain Sorghum Board. “From bioplastics and ethanol to aquaculture and animal feed, Vietnam offers many opportunities for this great Nebraska product.  We are eager to further strengthen our relationships with end-users in Vietnam over the coming years.”

Blum continued, “Many agencies and individuals worked on reopening the Vietnamese market. The Nebraska Grain Sorghum Board especially thanks U.S. Ambassador Kritenbrink, Governor Ricketts, the Ministry of Ag and Rural Development (MARD) in Vietnam, the United Sorghum Checkoff Program, the U.S. Grains Council, USDA APHIS, and the U.S. Embassy staff for their diligent work to resolve this fundamental markets access issue.”



Pig Humane Handling and Disposal Tools for Producers

The National Pork Board compiled resources for producers to help manage the impact of COVID-19 on farms. The following may be helpful for emergency depopulation and disposal:
    Recommendations for the Depopulation of Swine
    Webinar: Planning for Emergency Depopulation and Disposal
    Webinar: Animal Welfare Tools for Pork Producers

https://library.pork.org/share/10AE42FE-263E-4B2A-AF87D29206B32CDA/

USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) is offering financial and technical assistance for disposal. Contact your local NRCS office.

The National Pork Board does not advocate, endorse or suggest any particular action covered in these resources, which are purely for informational purposes.



USDA Fats and Oils: Oilseed Crushings, Production, Consumption and Stocks

Soybeans crushed for crude oil was 5.76 million tons (192 million bushels) in March 2020, compared with 5.26 million tons (175 million bushels) in February 2020 and 5.38 million tons (179 million bushels) in March 2019. Crude oil produced was 2.20 billion pounds up 10 percent from February 2020 and up 5 percent from March 2019. Soybean once refined oil production at 1.54 billion pounds during March 2020 increased 13 percent from February 2020 and increased 9 percent from March 2019.

Grain Crushings and Co-Products Production
Total corn consumed for alcohol and other uses was 467 million bushels in March 2020. Total corn consumption was down 3 percent from February 2020 and down 6 percent from March 2019. March 2020 usage included 90.8 percent for alcohol and 9.2 percent for other purposes. Corn consumed for beverage alcohol totaled 4.05 million bushels, up 55 percent from February 2020 and up 17 percent from March 2019. Corn for fuel alcohol, at 412 million bushels, was down 5 percent from February 2020 and down 7 percent from March 2019. Corn consumed in March 2020 for dry milling fuel production and wet milling fuel production was 90.2 percent and 9.8 percent, respectively.

Dry mill co-product production of distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) was 1.66 million tons during March 2020, down 9 percent from February 2020 and down 11 percent from March 2019. Distillers wet grains (DWG) 65 percent or more moisture was 1.22 million tons in March 2020, down slightly from February 2020 and down 9 percent from March 2019.

Wet mill corn gluten feed production was 291,861 tons during March 2020, up 4 percent from February 2020 but down 4 percent from March 2019. Wet corn gluten feed 40 to 60 percent moisture was 245,209 tons in March 2020, up 4 percent from February 2020 and up 9 percent from March 2019.

Flour Milling Products
All wheat ground for flour during the first quarter 2020 was 232 million bushels, down slightly from the fourth quarter 2019 grind of 232 million bushels but up 4 percent from the first quarter 2019 grind of 223 million bushels. First quarter 2020 total flour production was 107 million hundredweight, down 1 percent from the fourth quarter 2019 but up 4 percent from the first quarter 2019. Whole wheat flour production, at 5.90 million hundredweight during the first quarter 2020, accounted for 6 percent of the total flour production. Millfeed production from wheat in the first quarter 2020 was 1.65 million tons. The daily 24-hour milling capacity of wheat flour during the first quarter 2020 was 1.61 million hundredweight.



Coalition Opposes API Petition on 2020 RFS Obligations
A coalition of ethanol and farm groups today sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency opposing the American Petroleum Institute’s recent petition requesting reconsideration of the 2020 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) final rule.

API claims reconsideration of the 2020 RFS rule is necessary in light of the coalition’s recent Tenth Circuit court victory that overturned small refinery exemptions illegally granted by EPA. The successful Tenth Circuit court challenge was brought against EPA by the Renewable Fuels Association, National Corn Growers Association, National Farmers Union, and American Coalition for Ethanol.

Specifically, API argues that the 2020 RFS rule should be revised to eliminate measures that prospectively “reallocate” RFS blending obligations expected to be lost to refinery waivers. API claims reallocation of expected waivers is no longer needed because the Tenth Circuit decision should significantly curtail the number of waivers granted. However, EPA has not yet confirmed that it will implement the tenets of the Tenth Circuit court decision nationwide, meaning reconsideration of the 2020 RFS rule would be woefully premature.

“There is no basis for revisiting or modifying EPA’s current approach until EPA acknowledges that the central tenets of the Tenth Circuit’s decision are appropriately applied throughout the country,” the groups wrote.

In fact, the 2020 RFS volumes should not be adjusted downward to remove reallocated volumes even after EPA applies the Tenth Circuit court decision nationally, according to the coalition’s letter.

“As noted by the Court, EPA’s recent abuse of its small refinery exemption authority has significantly harmed the U.S. ethanol industry. Indeed, nationally, more than four billion gallons of 2016-2018 renewable fuel volume requirements were lost due to EPA’s illegally issued small refinery waivers. Applying the Tenth Circuit decision nationally while leaving the 2020 RFS rule intact would begin to restore a small amount of the renewable fuel volume requirements lost to past small refinery exemptions; still, doing so would come nowhere near fully redressing the demand destruction wrought by the exemptions.”



LAWMAKERS URGE TRUMP TO PROVIDE IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE, WITHOUT PAYMENT CAPS, TO HOG FARMERS
NPPC newsletter

On Thursday, more than 50 lawmakers, led by Reps. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.), Jim Hagedorn (R-Minn.) and Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), urged President Trump to provide immediate assistance to U.S. pork producers struggling as a result of COVID-19 challenges. "Over the past month, hog futures have plummeted by more than 30 percent, down to their lowest point in over 15 years. Restaurants closing their doors and the broader drop in public demand have largely fueled this decrease. However, recent processing plant closures in the Upper Midwest has severed a critical supply chain, leaving pork producing farms with nowhere to turn. Thousands of hog farmers are taking drastic measures to slow the growth cycle of their animals, but are unfortunately facing the prospect of a processing capacity incapable of accepting our inventory. These unprecedented challenges require the attention and immediate assistance from both Congress and federal agencies," wrote the lawmakers. While the recently announced USDA COVID-19 aid package is welcome news, hog farmers receive as little as $4 per hog in assistance and they are facing more than 10 times that amount in losses, the lawmakers explained. The congressmen urged the administration to remove payment limitations that "severely undermines the impact of the program for hog farmers," and the mobilization of existing farm programs to provide additional resources. The letter echoes NPPC calls for equitable, direct payments to producers without eligibility requirements. Three similar Congressional letters to President Trump were sent last week.



Livestock Marketing Association to Focus on Pricing Investigations
Larry Schnell, Vice President, Livestock Marketing Association

To say times are tough in cattle country would be an understatement. Livestock Marketing Association (LMA) member livestock auction owners and their producer customers are speaking up with significant concerns about volatility, the futures market, and especially, livestock producers not getting their fair share of the beef dollar. While COVID-19 and the Holcomb, Kan. packing plant fire last August are bringing these issues further to the forefront, they are illustrations of long-standing concerns regarding pricing and competition.

Livestock auction markets are an integral part of the process of price discovery, but our value is totally dependent on the success and profitability of the cow-calf producer, and the cattle feeder.

LMA supports the ongoing efforts by livestock organizations and individuals to bring about a pricing mechanism that would better serve the cattle feeder, and thereby the cattle producer. Our businesses are rooted in achieving competitive prices for cattle producers, and we want to see this occur throughout the beef supply chain.

To help bring that about, LMA is focusing on the investigations of the differential between the wholesale price of beef and the price that cattle feeders are receiving for their cattle. Beyond encouraging these investigations, LMA is conducting independent research and having additional discussions to pinpoint specific areas of concern for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Department of Justice, and hopefully, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. This includes looking at futures market issues in addition to issues with fed cattle pricing.

The cattle industry needs answers regarding what is behind the dramatic spread between live cattle and boxed beef prices, and these investigations are critical in answering these questions. Our goal is long-term solutions that will address problems within finished cattle marketing, and a pricing mechanism that results in profitability for all segments of the industry.

These are uncertain times, and this is a difficult task. But with every challenge also comes opportunity. Consumer attention is on the fundamentals of life – and ready access to high-quality protein is one of them. Congresspeople are hearing from their cattle country constituents, and they want to help.

At LMA, we are dedicated to working with our legislative and industry allies for the betterment of the livestock industry and our consumer customers. If we focus on this, and we are successful, we’ll be setting up cattle producers to enjoy the good times and weather the tough ones for generations to come.



Livestock Producers & Meat & Poultry Industry Applaud Leadership of Trump Administration

The nation’s leading farming and ranching member organizations and the meat and poultry industry associations today sent a letter to President Donald J. Trump applauding his leadership in working with members of Congress and federal, state and local officials.  The President’s Executive Order will help ensure the integrity of the food supply chain and protect the men and women producing this vital food.

The letter was signed by Zippy Duvall, President, American Farm Bureau Federation, Colin Woodall, CEO, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Mike Brown, President, National Chicken Council, Neil Dierks, CEO, National Pork Producers Council, Joel Brandenberger, President and CEO, National Turkey Federation and Julie Anna Potts, President and CEO, North American Meat Institute.

The following is the text of the letter sent Friday, May 1, 2020:

Dear President Trump,

Our organizations representing the nation’s beef, pork, chicken and turkey farmers and ranchers and meat and poultry packers and processors would like to reiterate our thanks to you for your leadership and partnership with your administration, Congressional leaders, state Governors around the country and local leaders and health officials as our industry ensures the ongoing production of meat and poultry to feed Americans during the COVID-19 crisis. Feeding Americans is a non-partisan issue, and we are proud to work with our nation’s leaders to avert major supply chain disruptions and hardships for hundreds of thousands farmers and ranchers across the country and keep safe, affordable food on the plates of millions of Americans.

This week’s Executive Order enacting the Defense Production Act to keep meat plants open is a key first step toward stabilizing the current plant capacity challenge and overcoming other major hurdles facing meat producers. Given our unprecedented times and challenges in many major industries, there’s no way to know to what the extent or scope of continued disruptions might be, but we do know that, with the safety and well-being of essential people top of mind, our farmers and ranchers need and want to get their animals to market so we can continue delivering meat and poultry to consumers.

The health and safety of the essential men and women in packing plants remains paramount. Companies already have taken extra steps to protect their employees, but the additional PPE and guidance made possible by enacting the Defense Production Act is welcome news. These heroic essential men and women are providing for their own families and keeping our country fed. They deserve our thanks and our support.

As the administration develops further guidance toward implementing the DPA to keep plants open, we are committed to continuing to work with you and government leadership at every level to ensure that we are doing everything in our power on behalf of our farmers and ranchers, animals, essential people and American consumers. Thank you again for your support of our industry and the key role we play feeding Americans.



DMC Margins May Not Reflect True Dairy Losses, Even as They Plunge

With the coronavirus crisis massively disrupting dairy demand and supply chains, margins under the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program fell dramatically in March and April. Even so, they may not accurately reflect the true losses producers are facing due to the unusual effects of the crisis on milk-component prices, a public-policy concern as USDA allocates billions of dollars in emergency assistance.

The DMC margin for March was $9.15 per cwt., 35 cents below the $9.50 per cwt. maximum coverage level for the program. The situation has deteriorated further in April: The full-year margin as of the April 28 forecast by USDA’s DMC Decision Tool, shown in the chart, was forecast to be $7.69, $1.81 per cwt. below the $9.50 trigger. Farmers enrolled in the program at all coverage levels, both under and over 5 million pounds of production history, would collectively receive $515 million in government payments at that margin.

Still, even margins that low – the lowest since 2009, if current margin formulas were projected backward – may understate the full loss for dairy.

Under normal circumstances in the U.S. dairy industry, the NASS-reported all-milk price used for DMC calculations behaves as what can be termed a commodity milk price. This means that, although it is determined using a survey methodology, it closely tracks the prices of the four basic dairy products: butter, cheddar cheese, nonfat dry milk and dry whey. These product prices determine federal milk marketing order class prices, which in turn determine order blend prices, which have a strong influence on prices paid to all dairy farmers. Futures prices for the four commodities can be used to forecast the all-milk price when that price effectively behaves as a commodity milk price. This happens when milk supply and demand are in reasonable balance, virtually all milk sold is processed, very little milk is sold at distressed prices, and producers whose milk is pooled on federal orders receive close to the federal order blend.

None of that has been true in recent weeks, making the issue of what the all-milk price reflects a key factor in allocating billions of dollars in payments to dairy farmers under the DMC and, potentially, under the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) this year. This year, dairy farmers will get little to no payment for large volumes of dumped milk, and additional large milk volumes will be sold at seriously distressed prices, none of which is reflected in a commodity milk price.

The forecast of the U.S. average all-milk price during calendar year 2020 released last month by USDA’s World Agricultural Outlook Board in the April 9 World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report appears to recognize this issue. The forecast, $14.35 per cwt., was about $2.00 per cwt. lower than commodity milk price forecasts were indicating at the time, and the report further commented that its forecasts included “additional milk marketed but not processed”, i.e., dumped milk.

The Decision Tool’s milk price forecasts are essentially commodity milk price forecasts. If the reported all-milk prices over the next several months also account for the milk prices dairy farmers actually received, payments as determined under USDA loss calculations would be much larger.

The DMC margin calculation is required by law to use the NASS-reported all-milk price. The CFAP direct payment calculations for dairy currently being formulated by USDA will involve estimating the prices that would have been received by dairy farmers if the coronavirus pandemic had not occurred, which would be commodity milk prices because the assumed scenario would be basically normal industry conditions. Still, such a scenario should be compared with prices received under the current crisis conditions, which will not be commodity milk prices.

Although commodity prices, and hence commodity milk prices, have fallen as a result of the pandemic, actual prices received by dairy farmers will have fallen even more. If these calculations use the NASS all-milk price, it will be important that they reflect this difference. It will be critically important to see if NASS takes its cue from the interagency experts who made the April WASDE forecast when it reports the all-milk price for April a month from now.

The DMC information page on NMPF’s website offers a variety of educational resources to help farmers make better use of the program.  Find it at https://www.nmpf.org/policy_tags/dairy-margin-coverage/. 



CWT-assisted dairy product export sales top 21 million pounds in April

As America’s dairy farmers struggle in these unprecedented times, the Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) export assistance program is helping maintain and develop markets for U.S. milk. Member cooperatives have captured sales contracts that will move overseas the equivalent of 445.7 million pounds of milk in 2020.

In April, CWT members secured 116 contracts to sell 7.2 million pounds of American-type cheese, 3.2 million pounds of butter, 2 million pounds of anhydrous milkfat (AMF), 8.7 million pounds of whole milk powder (WMP), and 599,657 pounds of cream cheese. These products are going to customers in Asia, Central and South America, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Oceania. They will be shipped April through October 2019.

These sales bring the total 2020 CWT-assisted dairy product exports to 16.1 million pounds of cheese, 4.3 million pounds of butter, 2 million pounds of anhydrous milkfat, 17.7 million pounds of whole milk powder, and 2.4 million pounds of cream cheese.

2020 is a challenging year for dairy farmers and their cooperatives. Doing whatever is necessary to strengthen milk prices is a must. Dairy exports will be key for both dairy farmers and dairy cooperatives in the year ahead.  CWT provides a means to move domestic dairy products to overseas markets by helping to overcome certain disadvantages such as the domestic/global price gap, shipping costs and tariffs.



FSA Reminds Producers of Ongoing Disaster Assistance Program Signup

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has started making payments through the Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program – Plus (WHIP+) to agricultural producers who suffered eligible losses because of drought or excess moisture in 2018 and 2019. Signup for these causes of loss opened March 23, and producers who suffered losses from drought (in counties designated D3 or above), excess moisture, hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, typhoons, volcanic activity, snowstorms or wildfires can still apply for assistance through WHIP+.

“To date, FSA has received more than 33,000 WHIP+ applications,” said Richard Fordyce, Administrator of USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA). “We want to remind producers that we are still accepting applications for WHIP+, and we encourage producers to call our offices for next steps on how to apply.”

To be eligible for WHIP+, producers must have suffered losses of certain crops, trees, bushes or vines in counties with a Presidential Emergency Disaster Declaration or a Secretarial Disaster Designation (primary counties only) for qualifying natural disaster events that occurred in calendar years 2018 or 2019. Also, losses located in a county not designated by the Secretary as a primary county may be eligible if a producer provides documentation showing that the loss was due to a qualifying natural disaster event.

For losses due to drought, a producer is eligible if any area of the county in which the loss occurred was rated D3, or extreme drought, or higher on the U.S. Drought Monitor during calendar years 2018 or 2019. Producers who suffered losses should contact their FSA county office.

In addition to the recently added eligible losses of drought and excess moisture, FSA will implement a WHIP+ provision for crop quality loss that resulted in price deductions or penalties when marketing crops damaged by eligible disaster events. To ensure an effective program for all impacted farmers, the Agency is currently gathering information on the extent of quality loss from producers and stakeholder organizations.

USDA Service Centers, including FSA county offices, are open for business by phone only, and field work will continue with appropriate social distancing. While program delivery staff will continue to come into the office, they will be working with producers by phone and using online tools whenever possible. All Service Center visitors wishing to conduct business with the FSA, Natural Resources Conservation Service or any other Service Center agency are required to call their Service Center to schedule a phone appointment. More information on Service Centers can be found at farmers.gov/coronavirus, and more information on WHIP+ can be found at farmers.gov/whip-plus.



USDA Announces Commodity Credit Corporation Lending Rates for May 2020

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Commodity Credit Corporation today announced interest rates for May 2020, which are effective May 1-May 31, 2020.

The Commodity Credit Corporation borrowing rate-based charge for May is 0.125 percent, down from 0.625 percent in April.

The interest rate for crop year commodity loans less than one year disbursed during May is 1.125 percent, down from 1.625 in April.

Interest rates for Farm Storage Facility Loans approved for May are as follows:
    0.250 percent with three-year loan terms, down from 0.750 percent in April;
    0.375 percent with five-year loan terms, down from 0.750 percent in April;
    0.625 percent with seven-year loan terms, down from 1.000 percent in April;
    0.750 percent with 10-year loan terms down from 1.000 percent in April; and
    0.750 percent with 12-year loan terms, down from 1.125 percent in April.