Feds help SC cotton farmers

U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency will provide an estimated $300 million in cost-share assistance payments to cotton producers through a new cotton ginning cost-share program intended to expand and maintain the domestic marketing of cotton, according to an agency news release.

“The program will provide, on average, approximately 60 percent more assistance per farm and per producer than the 2014 program that provided cotton transition assistance,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in the release. Eligible producers can reportedly receive a one-time cost-share payment, which is based on a producer’s 2015 cotton acres reported to Farm Service Agency, multiplied by 40 percent of the average ginning cost for each production region.

Sign-up for the program will begin June 20 and runs through Aug. 5 at local agency offices. Payments, expected to begin in July, will be processed as applications are received, the release said.

The program has the same eligibility requirements as were used for the 2014 Cotton Transition Assistance Program, according to the release, including a $40,000 per producer payment limit, requirement to be actively engaged in farming, meet conservation compliance and a $900,000 adjusted gross income limit.

For more information, visit www.fsa.usda.gov/cgcs or contact a local Farm Service Agency county office.

This story was originally published June 8, 2016 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Feds help SC cotton farmers."