Will Farm Bill Delay Impact 2015 Cotton Planting?

By Jim Steadman|October 16, 2014

Several news sources have reported that delays in implementing a provision of the 2014 Farm Bill may force growers in Texas, Georgia and other states plagued by years of drought to plant fewer acres of cotton that they would like in 2015.

According to the Associated Press, the farm bill mandate calls for the Risk Management Agency to calculate each U.S. county’s actual production history. Growers in each county are able to drop off years in which production fell below 50 percent of a county’s 10-year average, and then use the county numbers to establish their 10-year production average, allowing them to secure crop insurance at a level reflecting what they hope to produce.

The delay, however, is expected to reduce the amount of crop insurance available to growers, because they won’t be able to exclude years of eroded production caused by the last decade of drought.

For more details, read the entire article here.