Whole Farm Protection & New EQIP Rule

I'm Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.

USDA's Risk Management Agency recently announced the release of the Whole-Farm Revenue Protection program for the 2015 crop year. Jo Lynne Seufer, RMA Specialist with the Spokane Regional Office explains how the new WFRP combines two popular and well-known plans of insurance in the Pacific Northwest.

SEUFER: We had two previous policies that were a combination of this which was the Adjusted Gross Revenue Pilot and the Adjusted Gross Revenue Lite, which under the 2014 Farm Bill we were directed to combine them into one.

The plan is tailored for any farm with up to $8.5 million in insured revenue, including farms with specialty or organic commodities, or those marketing to local, regional, farm-identity preserved, specialty, or direct markets.

SEUFER: March 15, 2015 is the sales closing date for the 2015 crop year. We encourage producers to start meeting with their agents as soon as possible, because it is a little bit more complex program than just our regular yield based program.

On Friday the USDA published the new Environmental Quality Incentives Program rule in the Federal Register. This rule outlines changes that are intended to simplify EQIP regulation regarding conservation practice scheduling, payment limitations and other administrative actions. Farmers, private forest landowners and ranchers are strongly encouraged to review the rule and submit their comments during the sixty day public comment period ending February 10, 2015. Full details can be found in the Federal Register notice.

That's Washington Ag Today.

I'm Lacy Gray with the Ag Information Network of the West.