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New Base Acres Available for Qualifying Farms Part 1
New regulations from the Big Beautiful Bill mean some farmers may be able to recalculate their base acres. Base acres are the primary focus of federal commodity payment programs, and Extension Educator and Agricultural Economist Anastasia Meyer encourages producers not to miss this opportunity.
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[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac.
Federal commodity payment programs are based on what's known as base acres.
That base acre number for farmers has not changed in years, or even decades, but new federal farm regulations have given farmers a chance to add new base acres, extension educator, Anastasia Meyer explains, what's changed, and who might qualify.
[Anastasia Meyer, Nebraska Extension Educator]
The fact that we have not been able to add any base acres on ground that is farmed since the 1980s, right?
So we have been stuck with the same amount of base acres as what was happening back then.
Um, And the simple fact of it comes down to a lot of these barn program payments are based off of what you have base acres in, not what you're planting, but what how many base acres you have and what it is enrolled in.
So this is what's exciting about this one big beautiful Bill Act. And landowners are starting to see these postcards come in the mail from the farm service agency saying, hey, you can now review it starting June one.
[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Anastasia discusses how base acres are established and the difference between that and actual crop acres.
[Anastasia Meyer, Nebraska Extension Educator]
Base acres were established in the 1985 farm build.
So if the producer who was farming it signed up for the 1985 farm bill, congratulations, you got base acres.
So if you're farming a piece of ground that maybe was not enrolled in or it was pasture and now you actually farm it, you don't have any base acres on that field because it was not signed up for in the 1985 farm bill.
And in the 1985 farm bill.
What you planted is what those base acres were established in.
And then in 2014, we had the chance to do some reallocation of bake acres, which means that we were able to say that in my area that we farm in.
We had a lot of base acres in corn, and sorry, in wheat in Milo, grain sorghum, and not in corn and soybeans, because that's what they planted back in 1985.
So you were able to reallocate if you wanted to or not.
We were able to update yields.
Most people did update yields.
And then in 2018, we had a chance to update yields again.
Not a lot of people could, though.
So this is why this change is so exciting for people who are now farming a lot more acres and what they currently have base acres in.
[Brad Mills, Program Host]
The new legislation comes with a few math problems that farmers will need to figure out in order to qualify for more base acres.
Anastasia says it's a pretty simple process to calculate.
[Anastasia Meyer, Nebraska Extension Educator]
So the really great thing about this is there's not a lot of calculations are really anything to do for producers or landowners to look at.
Essentially, what they're going to look at is that what you planted or what your producer planted from 2019 to 2023.
And they're going to compare it to your 2024 base acres.
If you have more acres planted or prevent plant certified at the FSA, then what you currently have base acres in, you're gonna be able to increase them.
Um, it's a simple form.
A lot of the postcards that are getting sent out at is just an, for your information, right?
You can opt out of adding base anchors.
But I don't know why any landowner or producer truly would.
So yes, it's going to look at 2019 to 23.
They're going to see.
Are you eligible or not?
Um, and then we get into a little bit more of the, nitty gritty details, right?
There is a cap.
So we're not going to see a one to one addition most likely.
So by saying that, if I farm 100 acres, I plant 100 acres and I only have 40 base acres.
I'm probably not going to be able to get up to 100.
But I'm probably going to be able to get some more.
I don't know the certain percentage yet.
I don't even think FSA knows that yet.
[Brad Mills, Program Host]
There is much more to this discussion to come on a future extension almanac program for Nebraska Extension Almanac.
I'm Brad Mills.
Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media, and Nebraska Extension.
For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
New Base Acres Available for Qualifying Farms Part 2
Today’s program is part two of a discussion of new federal regulations on a farm’s base acres, which are used to determine some federal commodity program payments. Extension Educator and Agricultural Economist Anastasia Meyer explains the details producers should review to see whether they qualify for a recalculation.
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[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac.
New federal regulations are giving farmers an opportunity to add farmland to program payments by recalculating their base acres.
Part one of this discussion, extension educator Anastasia Meyer talked about why these changes are a great opportunity for farmers who might qualify for the recalculation.
On today's program, she begins by explaining what producers need to do, if they don't have any existing base acres on their operation, which might rely on a county average.
[Anastasia Meyer, Nebraska Extension Educator]
Well, it depends, right?
That's a big question.
Are you an average producer?
That is probably about the same as a county yield.
Are you an amazing producer?
Because then that's going to hurt you if the county averages is actually lower than yours.
Or if you are a subpar, you know, it's great.
But really, let's let's remember that the yield is only going to be important, if you were enrolled in price loss coverage and PLC.
And then this whole yield thing is a little bit interesting, right?
Because I mentioned the fact that in 2014, we had the chance to reallocate our base acres.
So if you reallocated, and if you are base right now, it's currently what you plant.
You're just probably going to see that yield swept into that new base acre.
So if you plant a corn and soybean rotation and that's what your base acres are, there's probably not any concern for you.
But let's again, talking to my area, we saw a lot of producers here keep their grain sorghum and wheat base acres, because at that time, remember, we were signing up for a 5 year farm bill.
And at that time they, those were paying pretty good.
So they decided to keep it.
Now, if you're adding new base based off of what you've been planting the last 5 years.
You're probably going to be seeing corn and soybean base acres added on to your farm that you already have wheat and grain sorghum.
So what yields do you use if you don't have any of that already associated to that farm number?
These are when you're going to see those county average yield.
So I don't know if it's going to truly affect a lot of people.
Um, but I do know that they're, that it is going to affect some that maybe chose to keep their old base and not reallocate to the new base.
[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Anastasia explains that old base numbers aren't in play here.
She talks about how the new provisions are for new base acres only.
[Anastasia Meyer, Nebraska Extension Wizard]
Yeah, so remember, this is only adding new base.
We cannot touch any of our old base.
We cannot reallocate it to what we currently plant.
We cannot increase our yield.
Um, we can't do any of that.
And remember, this is what they are basing the Art County and the price loss coverage payments on, right?
What's your bases enrolled on, not what you're currently planting?
So, again, yield is only going to matter for those price loss coverage base acres that are enrolled in it.
And it's only our county is going to be using the county average yield.
And so the really yield's not going to affect that at all.
It's just kind of what's on paper at FSA.
Um, so I wouldn't get too concerned about it.
Um, I've kind of been telling people there isn't anything to it, but to do it, right?
I don't see why you would opt out of it, especially when we don't know what future legistration is going to base any farm payments on, right?
Right, now we've been seeing a lot of these ad hoc, um, payments, so the e-cap, and a lot of payments that are based off of what you truly plant, not what your base acres are in.
So if we go more towards that in the future, this means nothing.
But if we stick with this whole method of giving payment based off of what your base acres are, this is when we really want to increase them while we can, because we might have the chance to reallocate again in the future or update yields again in the future.
[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Today's program was based on an article and the Farmcast podcast produced by UNL Center for Ag Profitability.
To read the article, or to listen to the entire interview, go to CAP.UNL.edu, or download from Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
For Nebraska Extension Almanac.
I am Brad Mills.
Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension.
For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
Managing the Tax Impact of Weather Related Livestock Sales Part 1
Livestock producers often must make tough decisions because of extreme drought or wildfires to remain profitable. Tina Barrett, program manager and director of Nebraska Farm Business Inc., discusses how these decisions affect a producer’s tax issues.
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[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac.
Current extreme drought conditions in Western Nebraska, and recent wildfires can force some producers to make immediate livestock decisions.
Those decisions are obviously based on years of experience, the present weather condition, and current market situations, and they do carry tax issues as well.
On today's program, Tina Barrett from Nebraska Farm Business Inc. Discusses some tax issues.
Ranchers should consider when making important decisions based off of weather related crisis situations.
[Tina Barrett, Farm Business Inc. Director]
So starting with the livestock deferral rules.
We have 2 different rules.
So the 1st one comes from code section 451.
So that's our, that gives us a one year deferral of livestock, and then the other one comes from the involuntary conversion rules in in 1033.
Let's start with the one-year deferral.
This one allows us to take the excess income from the sale of livestock due to weather conditions and we can defer that to the next year.
So this can be any kind of lifestock.
Doesn't matter what, what, and kind of animal that was, if we sold more than we normally would have due to a, uh, weather condition.
Then we can use this as long as we qualify.
This one has a few more rules for qualification than the 2 year rule.
This one you have to be a cash basis taxpayer, which makes sense because as an accrual basis taxpayer, you would have an inventory adjustment for it and you wouldn't need to defer it.
Your principal business has to be farming.
So in the definition of this one, it means like 50% of your income needs to come from farming.
So it's a little different definition than being a qualified farmer.
And then the area has to be eligible for federal assistance.
And so presidential disaster declaration.
Uh, that comes through FEMA is a slam duck, no question.
You know, federal assistance, I think, can be a little bit broader than that too, if we're getting assistance through FSA, due to drought conditions or those kinds of things.
I think we can we can qualify for this deferral in that case too.
[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Tina explains what normal business practice is and what would be considered excessive sales that was needed during these weather events.
[Tina Barrett, Nebraska Farm Biz Director]
As we talk about those requirements.
It's got to be the sales, again, that exceed your normal business practice.
So, typically we think about that as a three-year average of the number of head.
So I've got an example here, we'll walk through, but so we look at the number of head that you sold for the past 3 years, and then compare that to the number of head you sold this year.
And the excess that we would have would be what we could defer.
So it's not quite like we can just say, I had a calf crop.
I normally sell my calf crop in January, and this year I sold them in October, so I have 2 calf checks and I'm going to take the October check and defer it to next year.
Can't do it that way.
We have to look at the numbers.
And so, uh, but again, we'll look at some examples here and make that hopefully make a little bit more sense.
Um, again, only the the income from those excess sales is deferred.
So we can't, you know, kind of pick and choose what kind of number we want to have there.
And again, it's only deferred to next year.
And so not, we can't go, you know, 2 years out on this one.
It's just the next tax year.
When we have breeding livestock that is purchased, it makes it a little bit more complicated because we do need to take into account. You know, some of the other, uh, the basis issues.
But for the most part, here we'd be able to get on the one year deferral, just defer that, excess income to the next year, and then calculate that gain as we move on.
I mentioned a couple things that we could look at proof of weather conditions.
Again, like I said, that presidential disaster declaration is going to be a guarantee all the time.
Now that doesn't have to come before the sale.
So if sometime in 26, uh, we would get a disaster declaration in your county, or in your area, then then that way we could still use that as proof for why we deferred that on the tax return.
[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Stay tuned for future programs where Tina explains much more details about forced livestock sales due to unfortunate weather conditions and the tax implications that come with it.
For Nebraska Extension Almanac, I'm Brad Mills.
Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension.
For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
Bloom Seasons For Pollinators
Promoting pollinator habitat around your home is essential for harvesting fruits and vegetables. Nebraska Extension Associate Educator Scott Evans discusses how to provide food sources for pollinators throughout the growing season.
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[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac.
The importance of our pollinators can't be overestimated.
Without the work of these insects, a lot of what we enjoy for food and beauty wouldn't exist.
Nebraska extension associate educator Scott Evans says, planting a few flowers around your home is nice, but it might not be enough to help them thrive during the spring, summer, and fall.
He says good gardeners understand these insects need protection, as well as food sources all season long, and encourages us to think about blooming plants for each part of the growing season.
[Scott Evans, Nebraska Extension Associate]
Today we want to talk about a critical component of a habitat if that is 3 seasons of flowers.
We know that insects are active early spring till late fall.
We want to make sure that we're providing them the floral resources that they might need.
When it comes to our spring blooming plants, Sometimes we just think about tulips and daffodils, but we know that they're not providing the resources for our insects.
We want to incorporate plants, such as the wild geranium, the ground plump, the pasque flour.
A lot of our pintaments do very well here, but we don't want to limit just to perennials.
We can incorporate small shrubs and trees into the landscape, such as the viburnum, rich hazel, phothagilia, the French tree, and even the red, but.
They provide a lot of shelter for the habitat, and they help extend the bloom season.
When it comes to summer, we want to work with plants that have lots of different flower shapes, colors, and sizes.
We can work with cone flowers, golden rods, liatris, there's just a lot of plants that we can work with.
We're going to the garden center nowadays, we're seeing cultivars of our native plants.
We do know that native plants attract native insects.
So when you look at the cultivar, We want to make sure that that plant closely resembles the species type.
So that way, we're much more productive for the insects.
And when we start looking at some of our introduced plants that are not invasive, such as the hosta, that does really well in the shade, it provides a lot of resources for our insects.
Don't forget about our grasses, like our little blue stem, or even our baked blue stem, we have sedges, and we also have our annual herbs, such as basil, rosemary, parsley dill.
If we let those go to bloom, we can invite more insects into the landscape, we also know that Dylan personally is the larvae host for the black swallow butterfly.
When it comes to fall, our palate starts to shrink.
We know that we can work with our full blooming asters.
There are some great golden rods, such as Wichita mountains.
It does really well in the landscape, and it doesn't tend to spread.
So this summer, when you're in the garden, take a look at some of those gaps and the bloom times, and see where you can start filling in to make your pollinator habitat more successful and productive for the insects.
Protecting and promoting these insects, ensures we can continue to have the fruits and vegetables, we all enjoy growing and eating.
[Brad Mills, Program Host]
As Scott said, there are plenty of great ornamentals you can choose that will not only give your landscape some beautiful blooming plants, that also be food sources for pollinators.
Make sure they have something to eat starting early in spring, and all the way to the frost in the fall.
For Nebraska extension almanac, I'm Brad Mills.
Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR media and Nebraska Extension.
For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
GPS Sensors and Cattle
Cattle producers are embracing emerging technologies to better manage cattle. Precision Livestock Management Specialist Yijie Xiong and Extension Range Management Specialist Mitch Stephenson discuss how GPS sensors are changing the way cattle are raised.
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[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac.
New technologies are constantly changing the way cattle are managed and produced.
One of the latest trends is using GPS sensors to track cattle movements.
On today's almanac, Nebraska extension staff, Yigi Zong and Mitch Stevenson talk about how useful GPS centoring can be in raising cattle.
[Yijie Xiong, Nebraska Extension Precision Livestock Management Specialis]
So a little bit on the global positioning system, which we call GPS system more often.
Um, so that is using set light, fixing to track an objective.
What we use, the GPS system for research is we currently have GPS for multiple projects and multiple objectives.
So one is, we're tracking the steers and make sure they, we know where they are grazing, so that we want the type that, the position system was their, individual contribution for the meth and emission, which is a global concern for um, greenhouse emission right now.
And that study has been done at.
The Imrak, Eastern, Nebraska, Extension and Education Center, oh, at Meade, on a really small plot.
I think a very interesting trend that we see is the fast and uh, advanced evolution for technology.
So, I think we all remember, uh, one of the 1st GPS study back in 1940 was documented as like, So all the position system was recorded by human observation, and the researchers actually documented, say, like full moon, and cart light is really beneficial to the study.
However, with the advancement of recent uh technology.
We were able to have those units on cattle.
And uh, we were able to um, afford them with a lot, cheaper price per unit, and more accuracy, and much better battery life.
So with the newer technology that I introduced in the beef article, um, is called internet of things technology, we were actually able to see the cattle or, Um, a.k.a. The sensory location in real time and also be able to download the data to the frequency that we want.
It doesn't matter if it's a one hour or 2 hours or 24 hours, we were able to utilize the newer technology for the type of research that we need was a much better and convenient data acquisition strategy.
[Mitch Stephenson, UNL Associate Director of the Panhandle Research, Extension and Education Center]
I think there's a lot of applications that we can think about just knowing where the animals are at.
And a lot of it ties to our grazing management in that regards, because a lot of our grazing management, if you think about more water or or fences or a lot of these other things are trying to control where those cattle are at, by having a GPS on an animal, you're able to see where they're spending most of their time, where some of the, the grazing management can really benefit an area for either getting it used more or getting it used less, depending on on some of the challenges that might be out there on a landscape.
Um, and so, you know, we've really tried to utilize GPS to better understand, uh, how things like topography to affect livestock grazing, and, um, knowing that they're going to spend more time in some of the lowlands, some of the flat planes relative to some of the slopes and the hills, if you have really kind of rough topography.
Also, examining how far cattle will go from water, how much they'll utilize an area at certain distances from water.
Those types of things can really help us better understand how cattle are utilizing the landscape and then ways that we can improve that harvest efficiency by maybe putting a fence in or putting additional water and those types of management practices.
[Brad Mills, Program Host]
For Nebraska extension almanac.
I'm Brad Mills.
Nebraska extension almanac is a production of IANR media, and Nebraska extension.
For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans.
Go to extension.unl.edu.