FSA Scoop: Deadlines approaching
While I know you are all extremely busy, please take a couple of minutes to review this article for some upcoming deadlines and other important information.
The acreage reporting deadline for spring-planted crops, as well as perennial forage and Conservation Reserve Program acres, is just around the corner. Please know that as soon as you park your planter, we want to see you in our office to complete the process of acreage certification.
You should have received a packet in the mail with maps with an appointment from our office for this purpose. If the designated appointment time doesn’t work for you, or if you are available to come in earlier than the date we’ve given you, call us at 308-352-4747 to reschedule.
Appointments are necessary in order for us to get everyone certified by the mid-July acreage certification deadline.
While I hope you are able to get your planting done ahead of final plant dates in the state, please remember that FSA needs to know about your prevented plant or failed acres in order to establish or retain your eligibility for some programs.
Please file a Notice of Loss with us no later than 15 calendar days after the crop insurance final plant date, which in Nebraska is May 25 for corn and June 10 for soybeans.
File a notice of loss for prevented planting, failed acres
USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) reminds producers to report prevented planting and failed acres in order to establish or retain FSA program eligibility for some programs.
Producers should report crop acreage they intended to plant, but due to natural disaster, were prevented from planting. Prevented planting acreage must be reported on form CCC-576, Notice of Loss, no later than 15 calendar days after the final planting date as established by FSA and Risk Management Agency (RMA).
In Perkins County, the final planting date for corn is May 25.
If a producer is unable to report the prevented planting acreage within the 15 calendar days following the final planting date, a late-filed report can be submitted. Late-filed reports will only be accepted if FSA conducts a farm visit to assess the eligible disaster condition that prevented the crop from being planted. A measurement service fee will be charged.
Additionally, producers with failed acres should also use form CCC-576, Notice of Loss, to report failed acres.
Producers of hand-harvested crops must notify FSA of damage or loss through the administrative County Office within 72 hours of the date of damage or loss first becomes apparent.
This notification can be provided by filing a CCC-576, email, fax or phone. Producers who notify the County Office by any method other than by filing the CCC-576 are still required to file a CCC-576, Notice of Loss, within the required 15 calendar days.
For losses on crops covered by the Non-Insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP), producers must file a Notice of Loss within 15 days of the occurrence of the disaster or when losses become apparent. Producers must timely file a Notice of Loss for failed acres on all crops including grasses.
Please contact the Perkins County FSA Office at 308-352-4747 to schedule an appointment to file a Notice of Loss.
Perkins County farmers invited to join acreage reporting pilot project
Producers in 19 Nebraska counties, including Perkins County, may be eligible for a pilot program to test their ability to use precision ag data for reporting acreage to USDA agencies.
Nebraska USDA FSA and USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) are looking for producers to test the transfer of data collected by their planting equipment as part of a streamlining initiative.
The data will be processed by an approved third-party provider and transmitted directly to FSA and RMA as part of the Acreage Crop Reporting Streamlining Initiative (ACRSI).
Crop acreage reporting is an important step farmers and ranchers take to be eligible for many USDA programs and services, such as federal crop insurance administered by RMA and farm programs administered by FSA. The acreage reporting deadline for spring-planted crops is July 15, 2019.
The Nebraska county FSA offices participating in the pilot include Box Butte, Cheyenne, Dawes-North Sioux, Frontier, Furnas, Harlan, Hayes, Hitchcock, Kearney, Keith, Kimball, Lincoln, Morrill, Perkins, Phelps, Red Willow, Saline, Sheridan and Webster.
Participating farmers still will have to visit their FSA county office to sign the final acreage report and provide any additional information needed, as well as visit their crop insurance agent to validate transmitted data.
Farmers interested in participating in the pilot should contact the Perkins County FSA Office at (308) 352-4747, ext. 2 for more information. This process must be completed by the July 15, 2019, spring acreage reporting deadline.