Deadline Approaching for Specialty Crop Producer Assistance
Daniel Munch
Economist
Chad Smith
Associate News Service Editor, NAFB
photo credit: AFBF Photo, Kari Barbic
Daniel Munch
Economist
Chad Smith
Associate News Service Editor, NAFB
A deadline is approaching for U.S. specialty crop producers to sign up for marketing assistance. Chad Smith has more.
Smith: Applications are now open for USDA’s new $2 billion Marketing Assistance for Specialty Crops Program. Danny Munch, an economist for the American Farm Bureau Federation, says the program provides much-needed support for those who grow fruits, vegetables and nuts.
Munch: The Marketing Assistance Program for Specialty Crops is a USDA initiative that will provide $2.65 billion in financial support to specialty crop producers. The intent here is to help farmers who grow specialty crops manage marketing costs and expand into new markets. Even though those are goals of the program, the program behaves more like general assistance, as there's really no requirements to show the aid was spent in marketing. So really to support specialty crop producers, generally.
Smith: He says specialty crop growers face different challenges than other farmers and ranchers.
Munch: Specialty crops, which includes things like fruits, vegetables, and nuts, many times, they're highly perishable and labor intensive. They often require specialized equipment and manual labor which drives up costs. For example, the average specialty crop farm spends $142,000 on labor annually, which is 533 percent higher than the labor expenditures for any other operation across other commodities. Additionally, there's fewer risk management options.
Smith: Munch says time is running out to submit applications.
Munch: USDA actually extended the deadline from January 8 to January 10, so this Friday. Farmers can visit their local FSA office or give them a call. Check out USDA’s MASC web page for more details and get those applications in by Friday. USDA also raised the payment limit from 125,000 to $900,000, so that's a good sign for some of those operations, and we have a Market Intel that describes how some of those payment calculations will work.
Smith: Again, go to fb.org/marketintel to learn more. Chad Smith, Washington.
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