Ag Policy Blog

Your last chance to apply for a SURE payment is Friday.

USDA issued a notice Monday informing producers that the deadline to apply for aid under the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments, or SURE, will be June 7. This payment would be for any disaster under the 2011 crop. That's because the authorization for SURE expired last year, thus there is no similar disaster program for farmers for any crop disaster in 2012, 2013 or beyond. SURE will likely go the way of the dodo bird and lost federal acronyms because the program is not reauthorized in either the House or the Senate versions of the farm bill.

According to USDA, SURE has already paid out nearly $1.4 billion for disasters under the 2011 crops. Drought was major challenge in the 2011 crop with Texas farmers collecting $497 million under SURE. Floods in North Dakota led to $235 million in payouts. Kansas farmers received $143 million in SURE payments. Farmers in Oklahoma collected $74.3 million. Missouri farmers collected $55.6 million.

For more information on 2011 disasters and applications, go to http://dld.bz/…

The Portland Oregonian reported over the weekend some details about the farmer who happened to discover the volunteer genetically-engineered wheat in his fields. The Oregonian spoke with the farmer's attorney. According to the attorney, "The farmer has grown wheat in alternating years on the 125-acre field for the past nine years, he said, and has never before had a problem with plants resisting treatment with glyphosate."

The field was planted in October 2011, harvested last summer and fallowed. This was when the problem was noted because the field was sprayed with glyphosate but a number of volunteer wheat plants grew. The attorney said his client estimated the scattered wheat plants amounted to about 1% of the field.

The field was never used for trials for Roundup Ready wheat, either. http://dld.bz/…

Reuters reported Monday that USDA had increased its number of investigators in Oregon tracking seed situation. There were now 15 people in Oregon collecting information on the situation. http://dld.bz/…

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