Writer: Kay Ledbetter, 806-677-5608, skledbetter@ag.tamu.edu
Contact: DeDe Jones, 806-677-5600, dljones@ag.tamu.edu
Dr. Jackie Smith, 806-746-6101, j-smith34@tamu.edu
AMARILLO – The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will host a series of cotton meetings in the South Plains and High Plains May 14-16 to explain new cotton provisions in the farm bill.
New cotton provisions in the farm bill will be discussed during May meetings. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)
Jackie Smith, AgriLife Extension economist in Lubbock, and DeDe Jones, AgriLife Extension risk management program specialist in Amarillo, said they’ve invited Dr. Joe Outlaw, a leading authority on the farm bill, to this region to bring all cotton farmers up to date on what actions they need to take this summer.
Outlaw, an AgriLife Extension economist and co-director of the Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M University in College Station, will discuss how the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 authorized changes to seed cotton as a covered commodity that requires farmers to act on their generic base acres.
The meetings are set for:
– May 14, 2 p.m., Forrest Park Community Center, 814 S. Houston Ave., Lamesa.
– May 15, 9 a.m., Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, 1102 E. Farm-to-Market Road 1294, Lubbock.
– May 15, 2 p.m., Ollie Liner Center, 2000 S. Columbia St., Plainview.
– May 16, 9 a.m., Fowler Insurance Agency, 123 S. Sixth St., Memphis.
– May 16, 2 p.m., Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, 6500 W. Amarillo Blvd., Amarillo.
Also to be discussed is the Agricultural & Food Policy Center’s decision aid tool to help producers understand how the new seed cotton program may affect their Farm Service Agency payments. The decision aid is located at https://www.afpc.tamu.edu/tools/cotton-base.
For more information, contact Smith at 806-746-6101 or Jones at 806-677-5600.
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