The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will conduct more seed cotton program sign-up workshops in August to inform producers of the changes from the recently reinstated government program, an agency economist said.
Bill Thompson of San Angelo said the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 brought cotton back into the U.S. Department of Agriculture farm program. Upland cotton producers can participate in either of two programs: Price Loss Coverage, or PLC, or Agricultural Risk Coverage, or ARC.
“AgriLife Extension has conducted many such meetings whose sole goal is to educate producers on the three tasks needed to enroll each Farm Service Agency-registered farm into one of the programs,” Thompson said. “The Farm Service Agency has recently announced start and end dates for signup and FSA personnel will be at each program.”
The three steps are to update program yields, allocate generic base acres and select one of the two safety net programs, ARC or PLC, in which to participate, Thompson said.
All the meetings are free and share the same agenda.
The following is meeting information, counties served and corresponding AgriLife Extension agent contact information:
– Aug. 9, Howard and Martin counties, 8:30-11 a.m., G.C. Broughton Jr. Ag Complex, 2411 Echols St., Big Spring. Howard County call Tommy Yeater, 432-264-2236. Martin County call Tanner Hash, 432-756-3316.
– Aug. 9, Upton, Glasscock, and Reagan counties, 2-5 p.m., Glasscock County Co-op Gin, 300 Co-op Road, St. Lawrence. Upton County call Raymond Quigg, 432-693-2313.Glasscock County call Cody Trimble, 432-354-2381. Reagan County call Chase McPhaul, 325-884-2335.
– Aug. 10, Runnels County, 7:30-10 a.m., Runnels County Senior Citizens Building, 608 Sealy Ave., Ballinger. Call Marty Vahlenkamp, 325-365-2219.
— Aug. 10, Tom Green County, 1-4 p.m., Tom Green County 4-H Building, 3168 U.S. Highway 67, San Angelo. Call Josh Blanek, 325-659-6522.
– Aug. 13, McCulloch County, 7:30-10 a.m., McCulloch County Extension Office, 114 W. Main St., Brady. Call Justin Klinksiek, 325-597-1295.
– Aug. 15, Nolan and Fisher counties, 1-4 p.m., Roscoe ISD STEM Center, Interstate 20 Frontage Road, Roscoe. Nolan County call Zach Wilcox, 325-235-3184. Fisher County call Nick Dickson, 325-776-3259.
– Aug. 16, Jones, Taylor counties, 8:30-11 a.m., Taylor County Extension Meeting Room, 1982 Lytle Way, Abilene. Jones County call Steve Estes, 325-823-2432. Taylor County call Cody Hill, 325-672-6048.
“In the 2014 farm bill, cotton was intentionally excluded from most of the new provisions back then out of concerns brought on by a World Trade Organization lawsuit filed against the U.S. and its cotton policy,” Thompson said. “That’s all obsolete now, so AgriLife Extension has planned these and dozens of similar meetings across the state to inform producers of those changes and what they need to be doing right now to address them.”
