Sign-up Begins Today for Oilseed Payments

February 28, 2000

Sign-up begins today and runs through March 31 for an oilseed payment program that will pay producers $475 million. The appropriations bill approved by Congress last year authorizes a one-time payment to producers who planted oilseeds in 1999.

Produces who planted soybeans, sunflowers, flaxseed, canola, rapeseed, safflower seed, mustard and/or crambe are eligible to participate. A producer’s payment is equal to the producer’s payment acres times the producer’s payment yield times the national payment rate.

Payments are calculated differently for producers who planted an eligible oilseed for the first time in 1999 and for those who planted in 1997 or 1998 as well as in 1999. For those who planted oilseeds in 1999 and also in 1997 or 1998 the payment acreage is the higher of the total 1997 or 1998 acreages planted to the oilseed on all farms.

The payment yield in such cases is the higher of the county average yield for soybeans (the national average yield for minor oilseeds) from 1994 through 1998 after eliminating the high and low yields; the producer’s proven yield for 1997 or the producer’s proven yield for 1998.

For "new" producers of oilseeds who planted for the first time in 1999, the payment acreage is the 1999 acreage of the oilseed. The payment rate is the higher of the county average yield for soybeans (the national average yield for minor oilseeds) from 1994 through 1998 after eliminating the high and low yields, or the producer’s 1999 yield.