The American Soybean Association (ASA) is urging Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman to act immediately on the Department’s commitment to announce loan rates for 2002 crops this month. Farmers and their lenders need to know what the safety net for 2002 crops of soybeans and other commodities will be during the final year of the 1996 Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform (FAIR) Act, should it remain in effect. Further delay will increase uncertainty and the potential for misunderstanding as producers make planting decisions in the coming weeks.

“With no certainty that the next farm bill will be in effect for 2002 crops, farmers and their lenders need to know as soon as possible what next year’s farm program will be under the final year of the FAIR Act,” said ASA President Bart Ruth, a soybean and corn producer from Rising City, Nebraska. “It now seems virtually certain that Congress will not complete the new farm bill this year.”

ASA first requested action on 2002 crop loan rates on October 17, 2001. ASA leaders again raised this issue in a meeting at the U.S. Department of Agriculture on October 30. At that time, Under Secretary J.B. Penn advised ASA that the Department would announce its decision on loan rate levels in early December. That has not happened.

“It is possible that farm bill legislation acceptable to the Administration can be enacted shortly after Congress returns in 2002, in time to be effective for next year’s crops,” Ruth said. “However, it is also possible that legislation will not be completed until later in the year, and that the FAIR Act will remain in place for 2002 crops.”

ASA is strongly urging Secretary Veneman to announce 2002 crop loan rates, contingent on the possibility that new farm legislation may not replace the FAIR Act. ASA is also urging the Secretary to preserve continuity in Department policy by maintaining the 2002 soybean loan rate at the current 2001 level of $5.26 per bushel.

“It is now two months since we raised this issue, and the promised announcement by the Department is overdue,” Ruth said. “With soybean prices at historic low levels, and with the massively devalued Brazilian Real continuing to distort soybean production and trade, this is not the time to undercut the only income protection provided to U.S. soybean producers.”