Corn Commentary

ACRE Education

If you are aching to find out more about ACRE – there is a wealth of information available, but time is running out so you have to act quickly to learn about this new and rather complex program.

USDA launched a major educational campaign this week to get the word out to producers about this 2008 Farm Bill that gives producers an additional option to help manage the risks associated with farming.

Farm Service Agency Administrator Doug Caruso says farmers are interested in learning more about the program. “I think there is a lot of curiosity because it is a new twist and because there is a very clear option or choice here,” he says. “It is true that it is somewhat more confusing or complicated.”

Caruso held five public meetings in two states this week and more are being planned. “Every opportunity that we get, we will be talking about this and we are also looking at other mechanisms to communicate with our producers about the ACRE program.”

The National Corn Growers Association is doing its part to educate producers as well by co-sponsoring a DTN webinar scheduled for July 1. The online discussion will feature Ohio State University economist Carl Zulauf as well as Farm Service Agency’s top ACRE experts Brad Karmen and Brent Orr. This learning session is free and open to the public.

Sign up for the webinar here.

NCGA has also prepared an analysis of the ACRE program compared to the traditional Counter Cyclical Payment Program. The document analysis compares landowner ACRE and CCP program returns for both share and cash rent agreements under a base 2009 Expected Payout per Planted ACRE, and three other alternatives.

Read the NCGA analysis in PDF form here.