USDA To Offer Certificates for Farm Commodities Pledged to Marketing Loans ATT: Cotton Producers

USDA To Offer Certificates for Farm Commodities Pledged to Marketing Loans 02/03/2016 04:00 PM EST WASHINGTON, Feb. 3, 2016 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced that producers who have crops pledged as collateral for a marketing assistance loan can now purchase a commodity certificate that may be exchanged for the outstanding loan collateral. The authority is provided by the 2016 Consolidated Appropriations Act, legislation enacted by Congress in December. Commodity certificates are available beginning with the 2015 crop in situations where the applicable marketing assistance loan rate exceeds the exchange rate. Currently, the only eligible commodity is cotton.