The USDA indicated at a House Agriculture Committee hearing that farm programs payments for the Price Loss Coverage and Agriculture Risk Coverage programs and other USDA programs are expected to be cut by approximately 7% due to sequestration.
The first ARC and PLC payments for the 2014 crops are scheduled to be made after Oct. 1. Sequestration makes across-the-board cuts in federal spending when expenditures are estimated to exceed Congressionally mandated levels.
Various federal programs are exempt including the Conservation Reserve Program payments. However, commodity program payments are not exempt. According to the Congressional Research Service, farm programs in the previous two fiscal years were cut 7.2% and 7.3%, respectively, due to sequestration.
