The Sidney Herald

Wheat Acreage Reserve Payment To Be Made Soon

Montana farmers will soon be receiving their payments for participation in the 1958 Acreage Reserve program for wheat, Leo S. Kolstad, State ASC Administrative Officer announced this week. These will be the first payments to be made for participation in the 1958 Soil Bank.

Acreage Reserve payments for wheat are earned by planting less than the "allotted" wheat acres for the farm. A total of 3,024 Montana farmers signed agreements to place 219,378 acres of wheat land in the Reserve this year. Nationally, there are approximately 175,000 Acreage Reserve agreements for wheat, involving well over 5 million acres.

A farmer receives his Acreage Reserve payment in the form of a negotiable certificate, which may either be cashed at a bank or redeemed in the form of grain. A wheat certificate may be exchanged for wheat, barley, rye, oats, or grain sorghums but not for the other two basic grains - corn and rice.

Grain redeemed may be the farmer's own farm-stored or warehouse-stored grain which is still under a price-support loan or reseal or it may be from stocks of the Commodity Credit Corporation.

For exchange purposes, CCC-owned wheat is priced at the 1958 support price. Other grains are valued at the 1958 support price less 5%. Farmers who redeem their own grain will get it at approximately the same price they would pay for CCC-owned grain at a binsite or warehouse. Even though the grain is from a previous crop year when support rates were higher, the redemption price is based on current support rates.

Certificates may not be redeemed in grain in Montana until after September 30 which is the end of the normal harvest period. This provision is designed to furnish maximum protection to producer prices during heavy marketing periods.