Hello Again!
This spring the rains came and kept on coming, with some fields never drying out to plant. Once the rains stopped, then the heat and humidity was close behind. Basically the area went from winter to summer in zero to 14 days.
Talk about the weather being challenging. The farmers finally get the corn and soybeans planted and start mowing hay and then it is time to harvest the wheat. Not only do the storms beat up the wheat fields, it makes it very hard to get the crop off the field. But now the wheat is safely in the bin, but what are your plans?
How are those bills coming? Did you know the Farm Service Agency has commodity loans available? When producers harvest the commodities wheat, oats, barley, corn, grain sorghum and soybeans, to name a few, they can request a loan.
To request a loan is really easy. Just stop in the local Farm Service Agency Office and tell the office how many bushels you would like to put under loan.
Now the producer does have to be in compliance with the highly erodible land conservation and wetland conservation provisions and the commodity must have been produced on a farm that is in compliance with the annual program requirements.
The interest rate varies for the different months of disbursements. The loan rate for the commodity is different for each county so contact the local office for more information.
The service fee of $45 will be deducted at the loan disbursement. The final availability date for wheat, oats and barley is March 31, 2012. Corn, soybeans and grain sorghum loans can be requested until May 31, 2012.
While the commodity is under loan the producer is responsible to maintain the condition of the commodity. The producer is obligated to fully repay the commodity loan in nine months from the date of disbursement. The producer also needs to request an authorization before the commodity is moved.
We can’t control the weather, but the commodity loans are available to help out with cash flow issues. So if the cash flow is slowing down and the farm needs a monetary boost, remember about the commodity loans available from the local Farm Service Agency this harvest season.
That’s all for now,
FSA Andy
