Posted April 28, 2014
Texas A&M is developing a “crop policy decision aid
instrument” to assist farmers in determining which new farm program option will
fit best with a particular farm or crop, according to an article by Farm
Futures available here. The tool will also analyze crop insurance
options.
“It’s not finished yet,” says Joe Outlaw, co-director,
Agricultural and Food Policy Center, and professor and Extension economist at Texas
A&M University. “A lot still depends
on decisions from the Farm Service Agency (FSA).”
Outlaw applauded Extension economist Henry Bryant for
developing the decision aid, saying “He’s been working on it for close to two
years…It’s still under construction but is mostly finished.”
Currently the program only applies to Texas, but it
could develop further for other states.
The program will be fairly simple to operate: “A farmer creates an
account with an email address and a password, which he can save if he wants to
preserve the data entered. With that
information saved, he will get updates through email every time a rule change
is implemented.”
Farmers will have “simple boxes” to enter FSA farm
numbers, crop, county crop yield averages, practices, base acres, average
production history and other data. Once
all the information is entered, “they work through the program to determine if
Price Loss Coverage (PLC) or Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) will work best
for a specific crop or farm.”
The tool will also be available for STAX and the
Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO), including premium costs.
For more information on crop insurance programs, please visit
the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
