Announcement from USDA-FSA website.
America’s cotton producers have now faced four years of financial stress, just like the rest of the major commodities, but with a weaker safety net. In particular, cotton producers confront high input and infrastructure costs, which leaves them more financially leveraged than most of their colleagues. That economic burden has been felt by the entire cotton market, including the gins, cooperatives, marketers, cottonseed crushers, and the rural communities that depend upon their success. To help these farmers, USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) is taking action to assist cotton producers through the Cotton Ginning Cost Share (CGCS) program.
The program assists cotton producers with offsetting their anticipated cotton ginning costs, which is a prerequisite for marketing cotton lint and seed. CGCS payments will help the domestic cotton industry find new and improved ways to market cotton.
The sign-up period for the CGCS program runs from March 12, 2018, to May 11, 2018. Interested producers should contact their local USDA service center.
Under the program, cotton producers may receive a cost share payment, which is based on a producer’s 2016 cotton acres reported to FSA multiplied by 20 percent of the average ginning cost for each production region.
The program will only go to producers who planted cotton in the 2016 crop year (including failed cotton acreage but not prevented planting) to help with their ginning costs and facilitate marketing.
Assistance rates vary regionally based on estimates of the regional variation in ginning costs per acre. They include:
- Southeast (AL, FL, GA, NC, SC and VA): $23.21
- Mid-South (AR, IL, KY, LA, MO, MS, TN): $30.39
- Southwest (KS, OK, TX): $19.65
- West (AZ, CA, NM): $48.02
CGCS payments are capped at $40,000 per producer.
To qualify for the program, cotton producers must:
- Meet conservation compliance provisions;
- Be actively engaged in farming; and
- Have adjusted gross incomes not exceeding $900,000. FSA will mail letters and pre-filled applications to all eligible cotton producers.
Additional information can be found in this CGCS Program Fact Sheet.
