Kansas

Wool and mohair producers are eligible to apply for nonrecourse marketing assistance loans and loan deficiency payments (LDP) from the Farm Service Agency, but they must apply by Jan. 31, 2006 for their 2005-year commodity.

"Producers have until Jan. 31 of the year following the year in which the wool or mohair was sheared to apply for a nine-month marketing assistance loan or loan deficiency payment" announced Bill R. Fuller, state executive director of the Kansas Farm Service Agency. This final deadline also applies to LDP's for unshorn pelts from unshorn lambs slaughtered in 2005.

Producers placing their wool and mohair under loan with the Farm Service Agency receive an established loan rate. National per pound loan rates are set at $1.00 for graded wool, $0.40 for ungraded wool and $4.20 for mohair. In addition, unshorn pelts are eligible for loan deficiency payment at the ungraded wool LDP rate. When filing an LDP application, producers must have a good estimate of the pounds they want to certify. Fuller said the wool or mohair must be produced and shorn from live animals of domestic origin in the United States and be of merchantable quality.

Producers can forego putting their wool and mohair under loan and receive a loan deficiency payment instead. In order to qualify for loans or LDPs, producers must meet program eligibility requirements, Fuller said. "Producers must have owned the sheep or goats for at least 30 days before shearing, and they must retain beneficial interest from the time of shearing through either repayment of the loan or, in the case of an LDP, the date the payment is requested. Also for unshorn pelts, the producer must sell the unshorn lamb for immediate slaughter or slaughter the unshorn lamb for personal use."

Producers that do not retain the wool or mohair on the farm when sheared may lose beneficial interest and should have filed a form CCC-709 before shearing. A form CCC-633 must be filed after shearing if the producer still has beneficial interest. Form CCC-709PELT and CCC-633PELT are applicable to unshorn pelt LDPs. Or producers can file a CCC-633EZ Page 1 before they loose beneficial interest in the crop and then file a CCC-633EZ Page 2 to apply for the LDP payment before the Jan. 31 deadline, even after they have lost beneficial interest. For the 2006-crop year, the CCC-633 EZ Page 1 and Page 2 will be the only LDP forms applicable.

Producers shall contact there local Farm Service Agency at the USDA Service Center for more information.