| The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC)
announced Monday results of the 2001 Sugar Payment in Kind (PIK) Diversion
Program.
The program offered beet and cane producers the choice of diverting
acreage from harvest in exchange for sugar held in CCC inventory. The
program is limited to 200,000 tons of sugar. The CCC now holds 740,682
tons in inventory and reducing that stock will reduce inventory costs and
help alleviate the current supply/use imbalance.
According to the Richland County Farm Service Agency, there were 37
bids submitted in Richland County. Of those bids, 29 were approved, five
were disapproved and three were withdrawn.
There are 194 beet producers who process beets in Sidney, according to
the agency. This number includes some operators from neighboring McKenzie,
Dawson and Prairie counties, but that does not include all the landowners
who receive a share of the beets as receive cash rent.
Producers submitted 4,655 acceptable offers comprising 106,451 acres to
participate in the PIK program. This would require 236,897 tons of CCC-held
sugar as payment. But, because the program is limited to 200,000 tons,
producers were asked to indicate the amount of sugar they would require to
divert each acre from harvest. Offers were then ranked from the lowest to
the highest and accepted until the 200,000 ton limit was reached.
Each producer is limited to a maximum of $20,000 value in CCC-held
sugar. Producers will receive notification letters regarding their offers.
Accordingly, CCC will accept all offers with a "ranking
percentage" of 87.9931 or less provided the offer meets all other
eligibility requirements. CCC will transfer title to the CCC-held sugar no
later than March 31, 2002. Producers, or their assignees, will be notified
when the transfer of title occurs.
The sugar PIK program is a step to reduce the inventory of surplus
sugar. USDA's objective is to move this program toward a more
market-oriented system that would reduce government involvement in the
storage of sugar. |