Rice farmers with questions about funding contained in the omnibus bill signed by President Joe Biden can find answers in a fact sheet recently released by the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
The Fiscal Year Omnibus Appropriations Bill includes $250 million in funding for a one-time payment to rice producers to help them offset high costs faced by the industry. Drivers of those costs include weather, war and other factors, said Hunter Biram, extension economist for the Division of Agriculture.
“We knew there would be a lot of questions and we wanted to have ready information for Arkansas rice farmers to make sound decisions for the 2023 growing season,” Biram said.
The fact sheet is available for download at uaex.uada.edu/publications/pdf/FSA68.pdf.
Biram authored FSA68 along with Jarrod Hardke, extension rice agronomist for the Division of Agriculture and Harrison Pittman, director of the National Agricultural Law Center.
Farmers should be sure to read the FAQs in the fact sheet and urged them to “not make any decisions until you get a check in the mail,” Biram said.
