The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced that farmers can enroll in the Cotton Transition Assistance Program beginning today through Oct. 7.

The program, created by the 2014 Farm Bill, provides interim payments to cotton producers during the 2014 crop year until the Stacked Income Protection Plan, a new insurance product also created by the legislation, is available.

Details on the plan will be released by mid-August.

“The Cotton Transition Assistance Program is another milestone in USDA’s ambitious timeline for implementing the provisions of the 2014 Farm Bill,” said USDA Farm Service Agency Administrator Juan M. Garcia.

“Cotton producers now have a risk management tool in place. To help us provide the best service possible, cotton producers are encouraged to schedule an appointment with their local Farm Service Agency office early in this enrollment period,” Garcia added.

Cotton Transition Assistance Program, or CTAP, applications approved before Oct. 1 are subject to congressionally mandated automatic reductions of 7.2 percent for the 2014 crop year.

Applications approved after Oct. 1 will be reduced by the required 7.3 percent for the 2015 crop year.

The Budget Control Act of 2011 requires USDA to implement these reductions to program payments.

CTAP and the Stacked Income Protection Plan were established by the 2014 Farm Bill. The USDA said the Farm Bill builds on historic economic gains in rural America over the past five years, while achieving meaningful reform and billions of dollars in savings for taxpayers.

Since enactment, the USDA said, it has made progress to implement each provision of the legislation, including providing disaster relief to farmers and ranchers, strengthening risk management tools, expanding access to rural credit, funding critical research, establishing innovative public-private conservation partnerships, developing new markets for rural-made products and investing in infrastructure, housing and community facilities to help improve quality of life in rural America.

Source - http://www.valleymorningstar.com/