§8717 Planting flexibility

Summary

You may plant any crop on your farm’s base acres, but fruits, most vegetables (except mung beans and pulse crops), and wild rice cannot be grown on base acres unless they are destroyed before harvest. Growing those commodities on trees or other perennial plants on base acres is also not allowed. There are exceptions: areas with a history of double-cropping may continue to double-crop, and farms or producers with a past history of planting those commodities on base acres may plant them subject to limits and a payment penalty. Producers with an established planting history may plant up to their average annual acres from either 1991–1995 or 1998–2001 (excluding years with no plantings), but direct and counter-cyclical payments are reduced by one acre for each acre planted. Separately, for 2009 through 2012 a pilot allowed certain processing vegetables (cucumbers, green peas, lima beans, pumpkins, snap beans, sweet corn, tomatoes) on specified state acreages (Illinois 9,000; Indiana 9,000; Iowa 1,000; Michigan 9,000; Minnesota 34,000; Ohio 4,000; Wisconsin 9,000). To join the pilot, producers must have a processing contract, use the crop in a rotation for agronomic and pest benefits, and show how the crop was sold. Base acres are temporarily reduced one acre for each acre planted under the pilot; the reduction ends after the crop year. The Secretary of Agriculture must evaluate the pilot’s effects on supply, price, and existing producers and report the findings to the House and Senate Agriculture Committees.