At the Southern Peanut Growers Conference in Panama City, Florida, the National Center for Peanut Competitiveness (NCPC) officially launched the “Preliminary Base Acreage and Payment Yields Decision Calculator.” The annual conference brings growers from across the Southeast for three days of educational sessions focusing on production, research, marketing, industry issues and legislative issues. The calculator was developed by the NCPC after reviewing the text of the 2014 Farm Bill and discussions with Congressional staff involved in the drafting of the bill, as well as the United States Department of Agriculture – Farm Service Agency (USDA-FSA) personnel. When the USDA-FSA issues the final rules and regulations on base reallocation and yield updating, as well as temporary generic base allocation for a crop year sometime late summer/fall 2014, the spreadsheet will be modified to reflect these changes.
“It is imperative producers begin the process of collecting the necessary data now rather than later. With local office closings and staff cuts in USDA- FSA, local offices will be challenged in providing data on demand and working with the producers at the same level as was seen in the previous two farm bills,” says Dr. Stanley Fletcher, NCPC director. “Documents needed by the producer for this process will include the FSA-156EZ, FSA-578 from 2008-2013 and a document showing proven yields for all of the producer’s 2014 Farm Serial Numbers.”
The NCPC developed the calculator to assist producers in developing farm strategies and decisions based on their individual needs. Grower checkoff funds helped with the development of the decision calculator. For additional questions, contact Stanley Fletcher, NCPC director, at 404-277-2319 or email at smf@uga.edu.
Download Calculator Instructions
Download Preliminary Base Acreage and Payment Yields Decision Calculator