§8717 Planting Flexibility

Summary

Farmers can plant any crop on their base acres, but fruits, most vegetables (except mung beans and pulse crops), and wild rice have special limits. If those crops are planted on base acres, they must be destroyed before harvest. Fruit or vegetable crops that grow on trees or other perennial plants may not be planted on base acres at all. There are exceptions: areas with a history of double-cropping may allow it; farms with a history of planting those crops may plant them but will have their direct payments and counter-cyclical payments cut by one acre for each acre planted; and producers with an established past planting history may plant up to their average annual plantings in either 1991–1995 or 1998–2001 (ignoring years with no plantings), with the same payment reduction. In addition, the Secretary must run a pilot from 2009 through 2012 to allow cucumbers, green peas, lima beans, pumpkins, snap beans, sweet corn, and tomatoes for processing on base acres. Eligible acres by state are: 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, agree to use the crop in a rotation for farm health and pest control, and show what happened to the crop. Each planted acre in the pilot reduces the farm’s base acres by one acre for that crop year; the reduction ends at the crop year’s close. The Secretary must study the pilot’s effects on fresh and processed fruit and vegetable supply and prices, check for harm to fresh growers or loss of existing capacity, and report the results to the House and Senate Agriculture Committees.