Legislative

Florida Peanut Federation Legislative Policy

1. Continue the marketing loan program with the $355/ton loan rate for peanuts.
2. Continue the separate payment limit for peanuts.
3. Continue storage and handling payment for forfeited peanuts.
4. Make the PLC or ARC payment available for ALL active peanut producers based on a $535 reference price with a base update using crop years 2009-2012.

Provisions 1, 2, and 3 are currently in law.

The 2014 Bill converted cotton base to generic base and allowed it to qualify, if planted, for the $535 reference price and subsequent PLC payment. This provision in place for four growing seasons, with a very low cotton market, encouraged generic base holders to grow peanuts and distorted the market significantly.

Our non-base growers, mostly young farmers who were encouraged by the 2002 Farm Bill to go into business, were then severely disadvantaged with no base and no government safety net once the generic base provisions kicked in. Though generic base was eliminated in 2018, many of these young farmers are now facing bankruptcy or liquidation as a result of the 2014 policy, which has, for the last five years, distorted the supply and demand for the entire peanut market.