Reams
BY KARL BERGER
Special Correspondent
Fanners who’ve suffered seri
ous drought losses can begin to file
this week for government pay
ments under the special drought
assistance program authorized by
Congress in August, if they can
wade their way through the reams
of required paperwork.
Officials at county offices of the
Agricultural Stabilization and
Conservation Service, who were
briefed on the program’s final
details last week, will begin pro
cessing applications Monday, Oct.
3, according to Alarie Fleming, a
program specialist in the state
ASCS office in Harrisburg, Pa.
There’s no rush, however. The
deadline for submitting applica
tions is March 31, 1989.
The temporary new program is
the centerpiece of the drought
relief package Congress approved
in early August, when drought and
searing heat still gripped much of
the nation. Late-season rains,
while a help to some crops, are not
George Demeree Is RCMA
Presidential Candidate
LITITZ (Lancaster) George
Demeree, who has owned and
operated a dairy farm in Little
Falls, NY for 32 years has
announced that he is running for
president of RCMA.
George feels there are four main
areas of concern:
l. RCMA has to get more
aggressive.
2. RCMA should have a far
mer with no other major commit
ments leading the organization.
3. The formation of volunteer
dairy fanners known as the RCMA
army which could be used
whenever needed.
4. Immediate attention to a
nationwide class II pricing
structure.
George would like the oppor
tunity to address all the co-op dele
gate meetings this fall and seeks
the grassroots support of all dairy
farmers in the northeast.
HOG
CONFINEMENT EQUIPMENT
Discounted Factory Direct Prices
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GESTATION STALLS
All Stabling & Penning Is Available In:
CRATES
Of Paper Work Needed
expected to change the eligible sta
tus of hundreds of farmers across
the Mid-Atlantic region.
Basically, the program will pro
vide payments - in cash, not com
modity certificates to any farmer
who can document losses of 35
percent or more from the yield nor
mally harvested. It doesn’t matter
whether or not he is located in a
county that has obtained a disaster
designation from federal govern
ment officials.
Local ASCS officials will deter
mine the amount of assistance
available by farm and by crop,
Flemiqg noted. That means a far
mer could qualify for payments on
a particularly poor com crop even
if his losses when considering all
crops are less than 35 percent.
Similarly, he might qualify for a
loss on one farm he crops, but not
on another. This procedure repre
sents a change from the way eligi
bility is determined in the
Emergency Feed and Emergency
Feed Assistance programs, two
longstanding programs for
drought-damaged livestock pro-
George Demeree of Little
Falls, NY, dairyman, has
announced that he is a can
didate for the President’s
position of RCMA.
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ducers that also are being offered
to eligible farmers this year.
The assistance is available on all
harvestable crops, including hay,
fruits and vegetables, Fleming
said. Larry Neal, a Virginia state
ASCS official, said he’s heard of a
farmer who will seek payments for
losses on his watercress crop.
There are two levels of assis
tance. Farmers with losses
between 35 and 75 percent will
receive compensation for 65 per
cent of the value of the missing
crop. Losses in excess of 75 per
cent quality for compensation at a
90-percent level.
The prices paid for so-called
“program crops” - such as wheat,
com and the other feed grains
which the government pays far
mers not to grow - will be the
1988 target prices for participants
in the current acreage reduction
programs and county loan rates for
non-participants. The difference is
substantial. The com target price,
set nationally, is $2.97. County
loan rates for com range from
$ 1.92 to $2.14 across Pennsylvani
a, Fleming said.
(In addition, non-participants
will face a reduction equal to the
percent of the set-aside required
for participants in a particular crop
program, such as 20 percent in the
case of com, according to Mary
land ASCS official Marilyn
Warner.)
The prices paid on non-program
crops (which include soybeans)
are being set by state ASCS offi
cials using average yearly data
from the Agricultural Statistic Ser
vice, where available, or other
sources. Fleming said the price
paid for alfalfa hay in Pennsylvani
a is likely to be about the $lOO-ton
aveige recorded in 1987.
Non-program crop yields ~ the
basis for determining die extent of
losses this year - are being set in
similar fashion, although in many
Wode*Vcflg_
100% Welded Construction
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Unique Top Adjusting Feed
Gates - With Locks
For Drought Relief
cases these will be differentiated
by county, Fleming said.
Farmers do not have to use these
average yields as their own if they
can document normal yields that
are higher. But they will need at
least three years worth of data to do
so, Neal said.
Com is expected to be the crop
for which most area farmers will
qualify for benefits, Fleming said.
Even livestock producers who
harvest their corn acres for silage
might qualify, provided they had
ASCS personnel perform a crop
appraisal before they harvested or
on a test strip left unharvested. Far
mers applying for benefits who
failed to do this will have a drought
yield assigned to them by the coun
ty ASCS committee.
Documentation of this year’s
harvest totals, whether through
weight tickets, sales slips or other
means, comprises a crucial portion
of the paperwork applicants will
have to fill out. Form 578, known
,'*pX>7
Farm Calendar
(Continuod from Page AlO)
Tuesday, October 11
Lancaster County Farmers Associ
ation Banquet, Conestoga Fire
Company, 7 p.m.
Tax workshop, Lancaster Farm &
Home Center, through the 12th.
Alantic Dairy Coop, South Jersey
Local of District 2 annual din
ner meeting, 7 p.m. Elmer
Grange Hall, Pittsgrove Circle,
NJ.
Wednesday, October 12
PA Chapter of Organic Crop
Improvement Association. 7
p.m. Harrisburg Farm Show
Bldg, Room B. Topic:
“Research & Facts of Sewage
See for
yourself.
Come to DEKALB-PFIZER Field Days
and get a firsthand look.
Location: Dutchway Farms Vi mile East of Rt. 422 &
Rt. 501 intersection
Date; Monday, October 3rd
Time: 10:00 AM
You’ll get a firsthand look
at this year’s top performers
while they’re still in the field.
Field Days are sponsored by
your local DEKALB-PFIZER
dealer.
Vernon Balmer Harvey Brubacker Kervin Zimmerman
Myerstown, PA Richland, PA Myerstown, PA
(717) 949-6897 (717) 866-6635 (717) 866-7035
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 1, 19U-A27
as a “crop acres report,” is another
requisite for which others may
have to pay $2O to file late. This
paperwork will be burdensome,
ASCS officials said, so few far
mers should expect to receive
checks the day they first go into
their ASCS offices.
Several limitations apply. The
total amount of assistance
rendered cannot exceed $lOO,OOO
($50,000 per year in the case of the
emergency feed programs). To
receive assistance, a farmer must
be in compliance with the sodbus
ter and swampbuster provisions of
the 1985 farm bill. Although far
mers can receive benefits under
both the emergency feed programs
and the drought assistance prog
ram, they cannot receive double
payments for the same loss, War
ner said. Likewise, farmers who
receive crop insurance benefits for
drought losses may find that they
count against the total received
from the other programs.
Sludge, 215 693-5027.
Thursday, October 13
Penn State Tax Workshop,
through the 14th. Quality Inn,
234 Montgomerg Pike,
Williamsport.
Crawford Co. Council; 1 of Farm
Organ, annuals & awards ban
quet, 7:30 p.m. West Mead
N 0.2 Fireball.
Friday, October 14
Choice Plus Club Calf Sale, Mer
cer 4-H Park, Mercer 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, October 15
Food for Peace Regional Con
ference, David Mead Inn,
Meadville, 12 noon.