April 2: Now that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has extended registrations for farm programs to Aug. 14, including for the new Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) Program, an updated calculator program is available help farmers determine whether they will benefit from the innovative program spearheaded by the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) and the American Farmland Trust.
Click here for information on the updated calculator, a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet program. Click here for a new multimedia overview on the ACRE program.
As noted earlier, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) recently made available preliminary estimates of ACRE’s state revenue guarantees for the 2009 crop year and is expected to soon release more details on the program’s enrollment procedures. Explanations of how the revenue guarantees and program parameters will be determined are now available on the FSA Web site.
The calculator project was sponsored by Maryland Grain Producers, the Virginia Grain Producers Association and the Ohio, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana Corn Growers Associations. Academic contributors include Professor Gary Schnitkey, University of Illinois; Professor Art Barnaby, Kansas State University; Professor Keith Coble, Mississippi State University; and Professor Carl Zulauf, Ohio State University.