As Robert Harper with Virginia Farm Bureau’s grain division explains, this week’s market is experiencing extreme volatility due to the crisis in Ukraine. May corn is up 97 cents at $7.52. May soybeans are up 72 cents at $16.56. July wheat is up $3.20 at $11.70.

Are you ready for 2022 and the coming decade? Virginia Tech and Virginia Cooperative Extension is offering a virtual program on March 14 at 6:30 p.m. to help you prepare your agriculture business. Experts from Virginia Tech will cover:

— Ag commodity outlook

— Tobacco, peanut and hemp market situation

— JBS legal settlement

— Changing consumer demand for seafood

— Farm and food policy update.

To register for the virtual program, please visit here.

USDA Rural Development is making $150 million of American Rescue Plan Act funding available through the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program (MPPEP). USDA is offering grants of up to $25 million each to expand processing capacity through a variety of activities, including but not limited to construction, expansion of existing facilities and acquisition of equipment.

USDA encourages applications that benefit smaller farms and ranches, new and beginning farmers and ranchers, Tribes and tribal producers, socially disadvantaged producers, military veteran producers and underserved communities.

USDA will host two informational webinars to provide information on MPPEP. The first, Feb. 28 at 2 p.m. Eastern Time, will provide an overview of the program. The second, March 7 at 2 p.m., will cover application requirements. Registration information for the webinars is available on the MPPEP website.

For additional information, applicants and other interested parties are encouraged to visit the MPPEP website: www.rd.usda.gov/mppep. Questions may be submitted through the website or sent to MPPEP@usda.gov.

All application materials can be found at http://www.rd.usda.gov/mppep or at http://www.grants.gov. Applications must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on April 11, 2022, through www.grants.gov.

Full Release: USDA Commits $215 Million to Enhance the American Food Supply Chain

Here are this week’s market updates with Robert Harper with Virginia Farm Bureau’s grain division.

Here are the highlights of Week 7 of the Virginia General Assembly along with an overview of our policy development process.

Robert Harper with Virginia Farm Bureau’s grain division explains this week’s market updates. March corn is up 3 cents at $6.54. March soybeans are up 18 cents at $16.01. July wheat remains at $7.98.

Farmers who have coverage under most crop insurance policies are eligible for a premium benefit from USDA if they planted cover crops during this crop year.

The Pandemic Cover Crop Program (PCCP), offered by USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA), reduces producers’ overall premium bills and helps them maintain their cover crop systems. The PCCP is part of USDA’s Pandemic Assistance for Producers initiative, a bundle of programs to bring financial assistance to farmers, ranchers and producers who felt the impact of COVID-19 market disruptions.

PCCP provides premium support to producers who insured their crop with most insurance policies and planted a qualifying cover crop during the 2022 crop year. The premium support is $5 per acre, but no more than the full premium owed.

Qualifying cover crops include all that are reportable to FSA, including cereals and other grasses, legumes, brassicas and other non-legume broadleaves, and mixtures of two or more cover crop species planted at the same time. A full list of qualifying cover crops is available in FSA Handbook 2-CP. Also, PCCP does not change acreage reporting dates, reporting requirements, or any other terms of the crop insurance policy. PCCP is available for most insurance policies, including Whole Farm Revenue Protection beginning in 2022.

There are a few exceptions related to policies that already provide the benefit through underlying coverage. PCCP is not available for:

• Post-Application Coverage Endorsement (PACE)
• Enhanced Coverage Option (ECO)
• Hurricane Insurance Protection – Wind Index (HIP-WI)
• Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO)
• Stacked Income Protection (STAX) (if an underlying policy)
• Margin Protection (MP) (if an underling policy)

Producers automatically receive the benefit if they filed the Report of Acreage form (FSA-578) by March 15, 2022 with their local FSA office. To file the report, producers should contact their local USDA Service Center to make an appointment.

Because of the pandemic, some Service Centers in Virginia are open to limited visitors. Service Center staff continue to work with agricultural producers via phone, email, and other digital tools. Many FSA offices are using Microsoft Teams software to virtually meet with producers to review maps and documents for certification.

As part of filing the Report of Acreage, producers need to provide:

1. cover crop type or variety;
2. number of acres of the cover crop;
3. map with approximate boundaries for the cover crop;
4. planting dates;
5. planting pattern, when applicable;
6. producer shares; and
7. irrigation practices.

The March 15, 2022 reporting date is distinct from the normal acreage reporting date. The normal acreage reporting deadline with FSA will not change, but to receive the premium benefit, producers must file by March 15.

The cover crop fields that producers report on the Report of Acreage form must match what is reported to their insurance company for crop insurance policies.

Resources:

• February 10, 2022 News Release: Producers with Crop Insurance to Receive Premium Benefit for Cover Crops
• Frequently Asked Questions about the Pandemic Cover Crop Program.
• Pandemic Cover Crop Program fact sheet
• Pandemic Cover Crop Rule in the Federal Register
• RMA Managers Bulletin: MGR–21-003 COVID-19 Pandemic Cover Crop Program (PCCP)
• RMA Cover Crops webpage

It’s Week Five of the Virginia General Assembly. Watch the latest updates from Virginia Farm Bureau Governmental Relations here.

Robert Harper with Virginia Farm Bureau’s grain division explains this week’s market updates. March corn is up 31 cents at $6.51. March soybeans are up 30 cents at $15.83. July wheat is up 37 cents at $7.98.