Hello friends,
Last week we discussed the Facility Loan Program, which provided producers with low interest financing to construct or upgrade their current farm storage or handling equipment.
Utilizing this program and providing on farm storage for your commodity also provides you with more marketing options. You won’t have to sell your crop right from the field, but can store it, watch the market and sell when you feel you have received your best price.
If, during this time of ‘watching the market,’ you find yourself a little short on cash, the Marketing Assistance Loan program will be there to assist you.
Commodities that are eligible for Marketing Assistance Loans include wheat, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, upland cotton, extra-long staple cotton, long grain rice, medium grain rice, soybeans, other oilseeds (including sunflower seed, rapeseed, canola, safflower, flaxseed, mustard seed, crambe and sesame seed), dry peas, lentils, small chickpeas, large chickpeas, graded and nongraded wool, honey, unshorn pelts and peanuts.
Eligibility
Producers who share in the risk of producing the crop are eligible for a Marketing Assistance Loan. To be eligible, a producer must maintain continual beneficial interest in the crop from harvest through the earlier of the date the loan is repaid or CCC takes title to the commodity.
Beneficial interest means retaining the ability to make decisions about the commodity; responsibility for loss or damage to the commodity; and title to the commodity.
Once beneficial interest in a commodity is lost, the commodity is ineligible for loan — even if the producer regains beneficial interest. Commodity loan eligibility also requires compliance with conservation and wetland protection requirements; beneficial interest requirements, acreage reporting and ensuring that the commodity meets Commodity Credit Corporation minimum grade and quality standards.
For commodities to be eligible, they must have been produced by an eligible producer, be in existence and in a storable condition and be merchantable for food, feed or other uses as determined by CCC. The quality of the commodity in farm storage must be maintained throughout the term of the loan.
Producers do not have to participate in the Direct and Counter-Cyclical and/or ACRE Programs to be eligible for commodity loans.
Read the fine print
Violating provisions of a marketing assistance loan may trigger administrative actions, such as assessing liquidated damages, calling the loan and denial of future farm-stored loans.
The most common violations are removing or disposing of a commodity being used as loan collateral without prior authorization and providing an incorrect quantity certification.
For more information on the Marketing Assistance Loan please contact your local Farm Service Agency. They will be able to provide a more in depth review and what the loan rates are for the county where the grain is stored.
That’s all for now,
FSA Andy
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