ARC-CO Case Potentially Responsible for Farmer Profit Loss Nationwide

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

ARC-CO Case Potentially Responsible for Farmer Profit Loss Nationwide

Ray Grabanski serves as the founder of the North Dakota-based Progressive Ag Law, where he provides a range of legal services for farmers and agribusinesses as a licensed attorney. In 2015, Ray Grabanski began leading awareness efforts for discrepancies between promised payments and actual payouts made under a 2014 farm bill and the Agriculture Risk Coverage-County (ARC-CO) federal commodity program.

The United States Department of Agriculture created ARC-CO to serve as an alternative for direct payment programs for farmers. Developed in February 2014, the commodity program provided financial and price support for farmers in the event that they fell short of a benchmark revenue. Payouts by ARC-CO were dependent on product yield and benchmark price, a figure determined through an invasive 15-page survey delivered to farmers before the ARC-CO bill passed in July 2015. According to preliminary investigations and farmer interviews, many farmers failed to complete the survey for two reasons: it asked for intrusive information on private net worth and farmers were uninformed of the survey’s importance at the time.

Problems arose when farmers began seeing the first set of payouts by ARC-CO in October 2015. Due to incomplete data required to determine the benchmark price, farmers received payouts that vastly differed from those in neighboring counties. For instance, farmers in LaMoure County, North Dakota received no compensation for revenues lost while neighboring counties received payments that varied between $20.95 and $80.94 per acre. Furthermore, issues with the ARC-CO problem also affected farmers in other states, including Iowa, Indiana, and Nebraska.

Progressive Ag Law continues to investigate the case and holds regular meetings in North Dakota and other affected states to keep farmers abreast of the investigation’s progress. Farmers are encouraged to attend any meeting at their convenience.

For additional information about the case, visit progressiveaglaw.com/agriculture-risk-coverage-county.

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About Ray Grabanski

Ray Grabanski draws on extensive experience in the agricultural sector to provide professional consultation and legal services to northern midwestern farmers. Before launching his career, he earned a BS and MS in agricultural economics while gaining valuable experience on his family’s Inkster, North Dakota, grain and livestock farm, helping to triple its acreage despite an industry-wide economic downturn. During this time, Ray Grabanski also began to develop an interest in agricultural law and completed a legislative internship at the House Committee on Agriculture. In 1992, he formed Progressive Ag, an agricultural marketing, insurance, and commodity brokerage firm that now ranks as the top national firm for corn and soybean marketing.

In 2010, Ray Grabanski decided to pursue his passion for agricultural law and embarked on his JD at the University of North Dakota. After passing the bar in July 2013, he formed Progressive Ag Law, PLLC, with four UND classmates. In addition to maintaining his responsibilities as president and chief market analyst at Progressive Ag, Mr. Grabanski now represents the agricultural community in cases including the Syngenta lawsuit and issues related to the ARC-CO Farm Bill.

Outside of his professional activities, Ray Grabanski is an active member of the Lutheran Church, and he supports institutions such as the Norman Lutheran Church and the Institute of Lutheran Theology.