On Tuesday, Nov. 19, ASA the National Corn Growers Association and the U.S. Canola Association sent a letter to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the House and Senate agriculture committees (attached) proposing a compromise on the issue of tying farm program payments to planted acres. The organizations offered the proposed compromise as a way to break the deadlock on the issue of current vs. decoupled acres, with the hope that farm bill negotiators then can conclude the farm bill conference. The three organizations have strongly opposed “recoupling” payments to current plantings because it would distort production in years of lower prices and could trigger WTO challenges, similar to the Brazil cotton case.

The proposal would use the average of planted acres during the five years previous to the current year as the payment base for both the revenue and the price programs. The average would move forward, adding and dropping a year every year, in order to remain as current as possible without including the current year, which would serve as a deterrent to building base.

The organizations stated in the letter that, while this compromise is not their first choice for establishing payment acres in the commodity title, it would allow the farm bill to move forward.  Otherwise, we’ll likely see another extension of the 2008 Farm Bill, which would fail to provide the long-term certainty and confidence that farmers need to remain competitive.