Congress Passes Assistance Package for Rice Farmers

Congress passed an important bill for rice farmers Friday, December 23. This new legislation appropriated $250 million for U.S. rice farmers to help offset the financial impact of record high input costs without a proportionate increase in rice market prices in 2022. Riceland members will benefit from this rice specific relief made at the request of USA Rice and under the leadership of Senator John Boozman (R-AR), ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

According to the USA Rice Federation, the proposed bill was passed by Congress. Riceland’s commitment to working with government at all levels and its  partnership with USA Rice allow us to collectively achieve more together than on our own.

Here’s what we know:

• $250 million will be distributed to U.S. rice farmers within 120 days after the date the omnibus is signed into law.
• This one-time payment will be made at a rate of $0.02/lb using a farmer’s crop insurance actual production history (APH) yield on 2022 FSA certified rice planted acres. We do not anticipate USDA determining a payment rate higher than $0.02/lb given the overall funding amount.
  • Should a farmer not participate in crop insurance, and therefore not have an established APH, their payment will be based on an assigned area yield (county yield), or one determined by the Secretary.
  • Payment rates will be the same for all varieties of rice grown and geographical regions.
  • Payment formula: Payment = (max rate determined by Secretary or ~$0.02) * (APH or area yield) * (2022 planted acres)
  • For rice acreage where 2022 prevented planting (PP) indemnities were paid, those acres will be eligible for 55 percent of the one-time payment. If those acres were replanted to a different crop and that crop was insured, the payment will be factored at 35 percent
• A payment limit of $250,000 per entity will be applied so long as at least 75 percent of an individual's or entity's adjusted gross income is derived from farming. Otherwise, if less than 75 percent, a $125,000 limitation will be applied. This limitation is separate from any other program payment limitations.

Next steps:

USDA will be required to promulgate a federal regulation and develop payment software to issue payments. Riceland through its partnership with USA Rice will continue to coordinate with Congress and USDA as the regulation is drafted and the program is implemented.

Farmers should not contact their local FSA office until USDA takes further steps toward implementation in early 2023. Every grower will receive the same payment rate, but payment totals will be different based on their personal yields, planted acres, etc., and so therefore a flat “per acre” payment does not exist.

We estimate payments will arrive late spring to early summer.

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