Tomorrow evening, IL Corn will be dialing up as many of you as possible and invite you to stay on the line for a telephone town hall meeting at 7pm on January 27^th. You can find out more by visiting www.ilcorn.org and visit the Farm Bill section. The direct link is www.ilcorn.org/farmbill2014. If you do not get the call and would like to join, you can listen to the call live on our website in the Farm Bill section. You’ll also want to register for one of the three Farm Bill informational webinars we’re hosting this week.

On January 28 and 29, IL Corn will host a series of Farm Bill webinars, presented by Dr. Gary Schnitkey, University of Illinois, to help you navigate what is probably the most complicated Farm Bill in recent history.  The schedule for those two days is as follows (click on the link to register):

Wed, Jan 28, 2015 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM CST

Wed, Jan 28, 2015 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM CST

Thu, Jan 29, 2015 7:00 AM - 8:00 AM CST

You must register for the webinar ahead of time, which will allow the presenters to send you the necessary information and links to participate in the webinar.

Additionally, webinars will be recorded and available for download on this website or via DVD in the U.S. mail.  To request a DVD recording of a webinar, please click here to send your name and address to IL Corn.

The webinar will cover the decisions to 1) keep or update yields, 2) retain or reallocate base acres, and 3) choose a program to receive commodity program payments.  Commodity program choices are Agricultural Risk Coverage at the county level (ARC-CO), Price Loss Coverage (PLC), and ARC at the individual farm level (ARC-IC).

General advice will be given.  To maximize risk protection, landowners generally will choose the yield option with the highest yield and choose the acre allocation that minimizes soybean acres and maximizes corn acres.