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Censky updates committee on farm bill implementation

The USDA continues to implement 2018 Farm Bill programs.

USDA Deputy Secretary Stephen Censky provided an overview of the department’s progress during a Senate Ag Committee hearing today.

“At the Secretary’s direction, our implementation cadence has been aggressive,” he says.

He says that includes improvements to the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs.

“The Farm Service Agency readily implemented these provisions to ARC and PLC with sign-up for 2019 beginning on September 3,” he says.

Senate Ag Committee Chairman Pat Roberts asked Censky for clarity on the notice producers have received on their potential eligibility in the grasslands conservation initiative.

“We did send a letter in early June to around the 40,000 producers that, from our own records, we thought might be eligible to participate,” he says. “Then in late August/early September to those same people as well as an additional 40,000.”

Producers interested in enrolling into the program must notify the NRCS by October 25.