Recently Farm Director, KC Sheperd, had the chance to visit with Oklahoma State University associate professor of agricultural economics, Dr. Amy Hagerman, about the next Farm Bill.
“Wheat base, when you do your ARC and PLC over, for example, is at a much higher level than what our actual planted wheat acres are in the state,” Hagerman said.
Winter wheat acres have dropped by about 2 million acres, Hagerman said, when looking at base acres versus planted acres.
In the next Farm Bill, Hagerman said there have been some conversations about a base update.
“We are talking about the potential for a crop-based update, and what that looks like, whether it is voluntary, or mandatory, is all very much up in the air,” Hagerman said.
A reallocation of base in the state could have either positive impacts or negative, Hagerman said, depending on the producer.
“I think given that gap between base acres and planted acres, our wheat producers have the greatest potential to be impacted, whether that is positively or negatively, depending on how they do the update,” Hagerman said.
Hagerman also said when it comes to crop insurance programs, there needs to be a better understanding of whether producers are taking advantage of higher-level coverage options. There might be some potential for discussion in the next Farm Bill, Hagerman said, about creating some options for producers to affordably take a buy-up option.
“We do have some people who take advantage of that supplemental coverage option insurance in the state, but when you are talking about that one step above that can really take you to a high level of coverage on your crop, that Enhanced Coverage Option or ECO, very few people in the state take advantage of that,” Hagerman said. “It is not really clear why at this point.”
The 2018 Farm Bill has now expired, Hagerman said, so going forward, this will not be a large issue until the new marketing year for commodities.
“Really, we need to see an extension by the end of this calendar year, and I think it is quite likely that will happen,” Hagerman said. “Then we can continue our Farm Bill programs forward for 2024 while they continue to work on that bill…”
