With farmers up against tight margins and continuing to wait on a new Farm Bill, the Farm Assistance and Revenue Mitigation Act (FARM Act) has been introduced to Congress to help offset some of that financial pressure. Farm CPA Paul Neiffer on the Top Producer podcast says the $20 billion sought for farmers could be a significant boost.

“It was introduced by Representative Trent Kelly. He’s a Republican on the House Ag Committee from Mississippi, and again, the major farm organizations, the American Farm Bureau, National Corn Growers Association, American Soybean Association, etc., all are on board with this. They believe that it is a fairly good ad hoc program, especially the fact that the Farm Bill, even if it got enacted now, it would not help any farmers until, at the earliest for most farmers, next October.”

Neiffer explains that the act is specific to eight particular crops.

“And those crops are corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, rice, sorghum, oats and barley. So for those eight crops, we’re going to use a specific formula. For all the other crops, USDA has been told to use a comparable estimate of gross returns. So they are going to be required to utilize the same methodology, you know, they can’t really go outside of that methodology.”

Neiffer says the farm Act would not be based on base acres.

“Unlike ARC and PLC that are based solely on base acres, and again, you only get paid on 85% of base acres, this is based on what did you plant for the 2024. So if you planted 1000 acres of corn in 2024 and 1000 acres of soybeans, you’re going to be paid based on 1000 acres of corn and 1000 acres of soybeans, plus you’re going to then be eligible for an additional 50% of the acres that were prevented from being planted.”

Neiffer says, for the most part, he likes what he sees in the bill.

“I like the idea that they’re specifically telling USDA, hey, this is how you’re going to calculate this. Don’t deviate from this. Use what we have told you, not what you decided to come up with. And after the elimination of the Chevron Deference, USDA better follow this act because they would definitely get sued again.”

Neiffer suggests contacting your congressman if you’re in favor of the FARM Act. Paul Neiffer is a tax principal and authors a monthly column for Top Producer Magazine called the Farm CPA.