USDA calls for soybean referendum

Staff

Published Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Suffolk News-Herald

The United States Department of Agriculture today announced that it is offering soybean producers the opportunity to request a referendum on the Soybean Promotion and Research Order as authorized under the Soybean Promotion, Research, and Consumer Information Act.

Melanie Lassiter, executive director of Suffolk's Farm Service Agency, said Tuesday that the request for the referendum will be conducted at her offices located at 1548 Holland Road.

To be eligible to participate, producers must certify and provide documentation that shows that they produced soybeans and paid an assessment on the soybeans during the period of Jan. 1, 2002, through Dec. 31, 2003. Only those producers who desire a referendum on the order will participate.

"This began May 3 and continues through May 28, Friday, and producers may obtain a form to request a referendum from our Farm Service Agency office," said Lassiter. "Forms are also available on the Internet at www.ams.usda.gov/lsg/mpb/rp-soy.htm."

Individual producers and other producer entities may request a referendum at the county FSA office where their administrative farm records are maintained.

For the producer who chooses not to participate in FSA programs, the opportunity to request a referendum will be provided at the office where the producer owns or rents land, said Lassiter.

Mail in requests must be postmarked by Friday, and received in the officer by June 7.

Lassiter added that the USDA will conduct a referendum on the order if at least 10 percent of the 663,880 soybean producers request a referendum, provided that no more than one-fifth be producers from one state.

The request for referendum is mandated by the act, and the act requires that the Secretary of Agriculture conduct a request for referendum every five years after the initial referendum, which was conducted in 1994.

The USDA monitors the activities of the United Soybean Board.

The mandatory program is financed by an assessment of one-half of one percent for the net market value of the soybeans.

Notice of the soybean request for referendum will be published March 25, in the Federal Register. For more information, call Lassiter at 539-9265.

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