USDA Announces Termination of Base Acres on Federally Owned Land
January 2009. In the general regulation implementing direct and counter-cyclical payment programs for the 2009 and subsequent crops and in a recent Farm Service Agency Notice (FSA Notice DCP-204) the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it would unilaterally terminate base acres beginning with the 2009 crop on all land owned by the Federal Government, whether or not such land was owned directly by USDA or another agency, such as the U.S. Corps of Engineers which owns land around over 400 lakes in 43 states. In its announcement, FSA stated that base acres previously established on a tract owned by a Federal agency will be terminated on or after December 23, 2008. This rule applies to all Federally-owned land, including land held in inventory by FSA.
This decision will be felt most directly by farmers that rent land from Federal Agencies on which they have been planting cotton, rice, soybeans, wheat, corn or other feed grains or oilseeds. The decision by USDA will reduce the rental value of the federal land and will likely reduce the income of farmers who rent that land. USDA gave no explanation for this decision nor did it cite any explicit authority for this action.
A discussion paper concerning this topic has been added to the Reports section of this site.