The Arkansas Secretary of Agriculture, Butch Calhoun, asked for federal assistance Tuesday for farmers in Arkansas and surrounding states regarding contracts with Turner Grain Merchandising.
Calhoun contacted U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to help farmers who had commodity contracts to sell grain to Turner Grain and have not received payment for it, an Arkansas Agriculture Department news release states.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported Saturday that farmers could lose up to $50 million in the payment defaults.
Calhoun requested an extension for producers delivering their Commodity Credit Corporation grain under a farm loan, CCC-681-1, to Turner Grain.
Calhoun also asked that the U.S. Department of Agriculture make low-interest emergency loans available to the affected producers, the release states.
Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for more on this story.