AGRICULTURE OVER THE AIRWAVES

The Adjusted Gross Revenue-Lite —or AGR-Lite — is a variation on the AGR pilot program of 1999. AGR-Lite was recently approved by the federal government and offers income protection for most farm-raised crops, animals and animal products.

AGR-Lite was explained in detail during the satellite broadcast produced by Washington State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Risk Management Agency.

Those with their own satellite receivers may have tuned into the broadcast at home. The broadcast was also available for viewing on computer by video stream. Although Union County Field Crops Extension Agent Darrin Walenta was "a little disappointed" in the turnout, he's glad he offered the viewing of the satellite broadcast.

"I saw an opportunity to make it available so I did," he said. Walenta said this is the first time he has hosted a satellite broadcast at the service center, but it is ideally set up with the space and the equipment to do so.

"They gave a lot of good information (on AGR-Lite.) I suspect there will be an archival of the broadcast made available for later viewing," he added.

AGR-Lite is a risk management tool for producers of most agricultural commodities to ensure income levels based on a five-year average.

AGR-Lite is "built for small and medium-sized farms," said Steve Wedel, with the Northwest National Crop Insurance Services, during the broadcast panel discussion. But aimed at producers with average gross incomes of $512,000 or less, some viewers at the broadcast expressed consternation over the program defining "small farms" with a cap as high as a half-million in average gross income.

There were eight viewing sites each set up in both Oregon and Washington, four in Alaska and three in Idaho. The panel of presenters included Jon Newkirk, WSU Extension economist and director of the Western Center for Risk Management Education; Dave Paul, director of the Risk Management Agency's Spokane Regional Office; Brad Wenz, Senior Vice-President of Northwest Farm Credit Services; Darel Thomsen, Certified Public Accountant specializing in agriculture; and

Wedel.