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Precision agriculture (PA), satellite farming or site specific crop management (SSCM) is a farming management concept based on observing, measuring and responding to inter and intra-field variability in crops. The goal of precision agriculture research is to define a decision support system (DSS) for whole farm management with the goal of optimizing returns on inputs while preserving resources.
Crop insurance is purchased by agricultural producers, and subsidized by the federal government, to protect against either the loss of their crops due to natural disasters, such as hail, drought, and floods, or the loss of revenue due to declines in the prices of agricultural commodities. The two general categories of crop insurance are called crop-yield insurance and crop-revenue insurance. On average, the federal government subsidizes 62 percent of the premium. In 2014, crop insurance policies covered 294 million acres. Major crops are insurable in most counties where they are grown, and approximately 83% of U.S. crop acreage is insured under the federal crop insurance program. Four crops—corn, cotton, soybeans, and wheat— typically account for more than 70% of total enrolled acres. For these major crops, a large share of plantings is covered by crop insurance. In 2014, the portion of total corn acreage covered by federal crop insurance was 87%; cotton, 96%; soybeans, 88%; and wheat, 84%.
The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, known informally as the Freedom to Farm Act, the FAIR Act, or the 1996 U.S. Farm Bill, was the omnibus 1996 farm bill that, among other provisions, revises and simplifies direct payment programs for crops and eliminates milk price supports through direct government purchases.
In the United States, the Acreage Reduction Program (ARP) is a no-longer-authorized annual cropland retirement program for wheat, feed grains, cotton, or rice in which farmers participating in the commodity programs were mandated to idle a crop-specific, nationally-set portion of their base acreage during years of surplus. The idled acreage was devoted to a conserving use. The goal was to reduce supplies, thereby raising market prices. Additionally, idled acres did not earn deficiency payments, thus reducing commodity program costs. ARP was criticized for diminishing the U.S. competitive position in export markets. The 1996 farm bill did not reauthorize ARPs. ARP differed from a set-aside program in that under a set-aside program reductions were based upon current year plantings, and did not require farmers to reduce their plantings of a specific crop.
The Agricultural Market Transition Act (AMTA) — Title I of the 1996 farm bill — allowed farmers who had participated in the wheat, feed grain, cotton, and rice programs in any one of the 5 years prior to 1996 to enter into 7-year production flexibility contracts for 1996-2002. Total national production flexibility contract payments for each fiscal year were fixed in the law. The AMTA allowed farmers to plant 100% of their total contract acreage to any crop except fruits and vegetables, and receive a full payment. Land had to be maintained in agricultural uses. Unlimited haying and grazing and planting and harvesting alfalfa and other forage crops was permitted with no reduction in payments. AMTA commodity support provisions were replaced by the 2002 farm bill, a 6-year farm bill.
In United States agricultural law, a farm’s base acreage is its crop-specific acreage of wheat, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, upland cotton, soybeans, canola, flax, mustard, rapeseed, safflower, sunflowers, and rice eligible to enroll in the Direct and Counter-cyclical Program (DCP) under the 2002 farm bill. A farmer’s crop acreage base is reduced by the portion of cropland placed in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), but increased by CRP base acreage leaving the CRP. Farmers have the choice of base acreage used to calculate Production Flexibility Contract payments for crop year 2002, or the average of acres planted for crop years 1998 through 2001.
In United States agricultural policy, the triple base plan -- also called the flexible base plan -- is a proposal under which farmers who raise program crops would receive program payments only on a certain percentage of their permitted acreage. A producer participating in a federal price support program actually would have three categories of base acres for program purposes:
The Food Security Act of 1985, a 5-year omnibus farm bill, allowed lower commodity price and income supports and established a dairy herd buyout program. This 1985 farm bill made changes in a variety of other USDA programs. Several enduring conservation programs were created, including sodbuster, swampbuster, and the Conservation Reserve Program.
In United States agricultural policy, the set-aside program was a program under which farmers were required to set aside a certain percentage of their total planted acreage and devote this land to approved conservation uses in order to be eligible for nonrecourse loans and deficiency payments. Set-aside acreage was based on the number of acres a farmer actually planted in the program year as opposed to being based on prior crop years. The authority for set-aside was eliminated by the 1996 farm bill.
The Direct and Counter-cyclical Payment Program (DCP) of the USDA provides payments to eligible producers on farms enrolled for the 2002 through 2007 crop years. There are two types of DCP payments – direct payments and counter-cyclical payments. Both are computed using the base acres and payment yields established for the farm.
Prevented planting, under crop insurance, refers to acreage that cannot be planted because of flood, drought, or other natural disaster and so is eligibor indemnification. Also, prevented planting acreage may be excluded from the time frame used for calculating support program base acres.
In United States agricultural policy, permitted acreage refers to the acreage on which a farm program participant was permitted to grow a program crop after satisfying acreage reduction requirements. For example, when a 10% acreage reduction program was in effect for wheat, a farmer with a 100-acre (0.40 km2) wheat base could grow wheat on 90 acres (360,000 m2), the permitted acres. Limits on production were eliminated under the 2002 farm bill through crop year 2007, as also was done under the 1996 farm bill.
Optional flex acreage is a term in United States agricultural policy.
Normal yield is an agricultural term referring to the average historic yield established for a particular farm or area. It is also used to describe average yields. Normal production would be the normal crop acreage planted multiplied by the normal yield. These measures, once required by commodity programs to calculate benefits, are replaced by base acres, payment acres, and payment yield under the 2002 farm bill.
In United States agricultural law, Normal flex acreage is a provision of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 requiring a mandatory 15% reduction in payment acreage. Under this provision, producers were ineligible to receive deficiency payments on 15% of their crop acreage base. Producers, however, were allowed to plant any crop on this acreage, except fruits, vegetables, and other prohibited crops. Flex acreage was eliminated by the 1996 farm bill.
In United States agricultural law, normal crop acreage refers to the acreage on a farm normally devoted to a group of designated crops. When a set-aside program was in effect, a participating farm’s total planted acreage of such designated crops plus set-aside acreage could not exceed the normal crop acreage. The authority for set-asides was eliminated by the 1996 farm bill.
Flex acreage — The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 mandated that deficiency payments not be made on 15% of a farm’s crop acreage base, called normal flex acres. The acreage could be planted to any program crop, but not fruits and vegetables. An additional 10% of the farm’s base acreage could be flexed at the option of the operator. Flexing did not diminish the crop acreage base of a farm. The 1996 farm bill effectively provided total flexibility among all commodities, except for fruits and vegetables, and this policy was continued by the 2002 farm bill.
In United States agricultural policy, Farm acreage base referred to the total of the crop acreage bases for a farm for a year, the average acreage planted to soybeans and other non-program crops, and the average acreage devoted to conserving uses The 1996 farm bill and the 2002 farm bill eliminate the need to calculate a farm acreage base.
A Crop Mob is a group of volunteers who come together to build and empower communities by working side by side and doing the work it takes a community to do. Experienced farmers and gardeners also volunteer their time to share their knowledge with their peers and the next generation of agrarians. The membership is dynamic, changing and growing with each new mob event. Crop Mob has been described as "a modern, Internet-connected take on the agrarian culture that faded with the industrialization of farming. In a tough market, crop mobs can give small farms a shot in the arm and connect them to potential customers."
The production of corn plays a major role in the economy of the United States. The US is the largest corn producer in the world, with 96,000,000 acres (39,000,000 ha) of land reserved for corn production. Corn growth is dominated by west/north central Iowa and east central Illinois. Approximately 13% of its annual yield is exported.
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The Congressional Research Service (CRS), known as Congress's think tank, is a public policy research arm of the United States Congress. As a legislative branch agency within the Library of Congress, CRS works primarily and directly for Members of Congress, their Committees and staff on a confidential, nonpartisan basis.