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Hill and Furrow

Understanding the 2014 Farm Bill

The 2014 Farm Bill became federal law on February 7.  While employees at the federal United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Services Agency (FSA) office work out the policies and details of the programs, FSA and university Extension employees are working to translate the law into plain English.

Commodity crop producers will have to make several decisions in 2014 which will affect their crop insurance coverage for the 2014 through 2018 years.  As so much rides upon these one-time decisions, producers will work hard during the coming months to make sure that, given the current and projected commodity prices, they pursue the best options for their operation.

Listed below are many different resources to help in this decision-making process:

The USDA-FSA released a six-page fact sheet that details repealed, modified and new programs in the 2014 Farm Bill.

University of Illinois Department of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences faculty that contribute to farmdoc DAILY have recently and continue to post online articles and YouTube videos discussing the 2014 Farm Bill:

A consortium of Extension Economists from 13 western states, Guam and other Pacific Islands routinely posts links to past and upcoming webinars on a webpage called Ag in Uncertain Times. Many of these webinars are general in nature and may be of interest to Midwestern producers. Visit the webpage to find links to past and upcoming webinars which include:

  • The 2014 Farm Bill: An Overview (Archive)
  • The 2014 Farm Bill: Dairy Margin & Livestock Disaster Programs (Archive)
  • The 2014 Farm Bill: Commodity Programs and Crop Insurance (Monday, March 24, 2014, CST)