July 5, 2018 —The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) is notifying farmers with generic base acres that planted seed cotton that a new tool is available to assist them in understanding how the new seed cotton program may affect their FSA payments. It helps a producer make decisions on how to allocate generic base acres to other covered crops based on a producer’s planting history.

The educational tool can be viewed at https://www.afpc.tamu.edu/tools/cotton-base.

Developed by Texas A&M University, the tool is for educational purposes only, and by using the tool, it is agreed that the results are not a guarantee of future FSA program parameters or payments. Users also acknowledge that this tool is provided with absolutely no warranty, without even the implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose.

The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 included seed cotton as a covered commodity under the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) program effective for the 2018 crop year. The Act also authorizes owners of a farm with generic base acres and a recent history of covered commodities a one-time opportunity to update the farm’s payment yield for seed cotton.

Complete details of this decision are available by reading the Notice(https://www.fsa.usda.gov/Internet/FSA_Notice/arcplc50.pdf)

Or by contacting your State or County FSA office http://offices.usda.gov