State FSA targeting new groups for assistance

Written by Bill Harmon /Farm Service Agency Wednesday, 30 May 2007 09:48

The Kansas Farm Service Agency is targeting and reaching out to underrepresented groups like women and minority farmers in the state in an effort to get more of them involved in its farm programs.

“We’re in the business of helping our farmers and ranchers—all of them,” said Bill Fuller, executive director of the Kansas Farm Service Agency.

“Our programs are generally well known throughout the ag community,” he said. “We do not have to promote their availability to the producers who have traditionally used them.

“But there may be producers, especially among women and minority farmers, who still are not aware of our programs and the benefits that may be available to them.

“We want to reach those producers and tell...

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Sunshine saves hay crop from fungus-disease losses

Written by Jerry Engler Wednesday, 23 May 2007 09:05

The sunshine, wind and warmth of the last week helped Marion County farmers avoid what could have been a calamity, a huge additional loss in the hay crop following a hay-short year.

County Extension Agent Rickey Roberts said fungus diseases, primarily spring blackstem and leaf spot, were rapidly moving into the alfalfa fields, and actually had destroyed large sections of a few fields in the cool, wet, cloudy weather.

“The first cutting of alfalfa for the year had frozen,” Roberts said. “We just lost it. The second cutting was really coming on, and I was concerned it was really in trouble. It was beginning to look like disease could just wipe out the second cutting, or at least half of it before the weather began to...

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Status of wheat crop remains uncertain

Written by Don Ratzlaff Wednesday, 16 May 2007 06:45

WheatP5141716.jpg Marion County ag-agent Rickey Roberts said farmers will have to make difficult decisions regarding their wheat. In some fields, the grain can mostly be gone with only foliage still there, while in others tillers that come from the base of plants are growing and may still produce adequate grain. Don Ratzlaff / Free Press

Click image to enlarge.

A couple of guys were sitting in the Hillsboro Pizza Hut last week wearing crop insurance adjuster ballcaps.

Since the hats made it obvious who they were, they were asked the question they said they’re being asked everywhere, “What’s happening with the wheat?”

 

They replied they were just happy to be asked the question during what little of the...

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Looking at crop insurance

Written by John Morris / Kansas Wheat Growers Association Wednesday, 16 May 2007 06:29

Ask any Kansas farmer and the answer will be the same. Crop insurance is one of the more complicated risk-management issues with which the Kansas farmer needs to deal.

Because of that complicated nature, it is confusing to consumers, taxpayers and the media. With the damage in many parts of Kansas resulting from the Easter weekend deep freezes, crop-insurance questions sprouted anew.

Here’s how the system works.

First, crop insurance can protect the Kansas wheat producer from many hazards, including freeze damage and drought losses.

The producer needs to determine the coverage he wants to purchase for his farm operation. Again, using the wheat producer as an example, he can purchase coverage ranging around 50 percent up to 85...

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Producers must file planted acreage by May 31

Written by Bill Harmon /Farm Service Agency Wednesday, 16 May 2007 06:27

Farmers planning to earn and receive farm program payments and benefits from the U.S. Department of Agriculture are required by existing farm-bill regulations to file acreage reports for all cropland on their enrolled farms. Terms within the Direct & Counter-cyclical Program (DCP) make it mandatory for producers to report by May 31 of each year all planted wheat, barley, & oats acreage.

Reporting producers should be prepared to accurately certify planted acres and provide approximate planting dates on a field-by-field basis, regardless of use.

Producers who have already reported planted crops such as wheat, and intend to destroy the crop, need to report to Farm Service Agency the number of acres that will be destroyed prior to May 31...

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