ORIGINALLY WRITTEN BILL HARMON
Increases in 2004-05 crop prices will be requiring producers of wheat and oats who received advance partial counter-cyclical farm payments last October and February under the Direct and Counter-cyclical Program (DCP) to refund them.
Affected producers will have two options for refunding these unearned payments that was explained in letters sent to them last May.
The default option will be to reduce any DCP payments received between October 2005 and March 2006 to satisfy the obligation.
The second option allows producers to write a check to Commodity Credit Corp. for the indebted amount.
A total of 540 Marion County producers received advance counter-cyclical payments.
Final 2004 year counter-cyclical payment rates for wheat and oats are zero because their effective prices equaled, in the case of wheat, and exceeded, in the case of oats, their respective target prices.
Barley is entitled to a final counter-cyclical payment at a rate of $0.045 per bushel if earlier advance payments were accepted or $0.15 per bushel if no advances were taken.
The 2004 counter-cyclical marketing year for corn, sorghum and soybeans ends Aug. 31 with payment earnings to be determined in October 2005.
Bill Harmon is executive director of the Marion County Farm Service Agency office in Marion
