What's up at the FSA Office?
by Joyce Davidshofer, Allamakee County Executive Director
The Allamakee County Committee meeting will be held July 17 at 9 a.m.
Reminders
April 15, 2014 - January 30, 2015 sign-up for the LIP/LFP/ELAP/TAP programs.
June 9, 2014 - September 30, 2014 – CRP Continuous CRP Sign-up 46.
June 9, 2014 – August 8, 2014 – CRP contracts expiring September 30, 2014 can extend for one year. No general CRP sign-up for 2014.
July 15, 2014 - Crop certification deadline. After July 15, 2014, late file fee.
November 1, 2014 - December 30, 2015 - Forage, pasture, grasses certification due for spring 2015 year. Late file fee will apply, no waivers.
Allamakee County Executive Director Joyce Davidshofer will be on KNEI at 9 a.m. every Wednesday to update producers on programs and deadlines.
Continuous CRP Sign-Up
Under continuous sign-up authority, environmentally sensitive land devoted to certain conservation practices can be enrolled in CRP at any time. Offers are automatically accepted provided the land and producer meet certain eligibility requirements. Unlike CRP enrollments under general sign-up authority, offers for continuous sign-up are not subject to competitive bidding.
The effective date of the CRP contract is the first day of the month following the month of approval. In certain circumstances, producers may defer the effective date for up to six months.
If the acreage is currently under CRP contract and is within one year of the scheduled expiration date, the effective date is October 1 following the expiration date.
To offer land for continuous sign-up, producers should contact the Allamakee County FSA Office.
Eligible Land
Land must be cropland that is planted or considered planted to an agricultural commodity four of the previous six crop years from 2008 to 2013, and is physically and legally capable of being planted (no planting restrictions due to an easement or other legally binding instrument) in a normal manner to an agricultural commodity.
Sign-up began June 9, 2014 - September 30, 2014 for Signup 46.
1. TIP – CRP – June 9th, 2014 – before September 30, 2014 – Iowa have $935,000 for allocation. Landowners retiring and CRP is expiring can rent the farm to a beginning farmer or veteran and receive up to two years of CRP payments. Contact the Allamakee County FSA Office for more details.
2. CRP 1-Year extensions – June 9th – August 8, 2014. Not for 15 years contracts. CRP producers should have received a letter from Kansas City in regards to their CRP contract expiring October 1, 2014. There is an option to extend the contract for one year for the same rental rate. You may modify the acres to fewer acres, but cannot increase acres for this one year. Contact the Allamakee County FSA Office for more details.
Disaster Programs
LFP- Livestock Forage Disaster Program for 2012 crop year for drought. We need to certify the 2012 pasture land which most of the producers did not certify that year.
LIP- Livestock Indemnity Program – Cattle lost to adverse weather events, normal mortality will be part of this calculation process.
ELAP – Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees and Farm-Raised Fish Program.
Eligible producers can sign-up for the following livestock disaster assistance programs:
Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP):
• LFP provides compensation to eligible livestock producers that have suffered grazing losses due to drought on privately owned or cash leased land or fire on federally managed land. Eligible producers must physically be located in a county affected by a qualifying drought during the normal grazing period for the county. Producers who suffered eligible grazing losses should submit a completed CCC-853 and supporting documentation by January 30, 2015.
Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP):
• LIP provides compensation to eligible livestock producers that have suffered livestock death losses in excess of normal mortality due to adverse weather and attacks by animals reintroduced into the wild by the federal government or protected by federal law. Producers who suffered livestock death losses should submit a notice of loss and an application for payment to their local FSA office by January 30, 2015.
Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP)
• ELAP provides emergency assistance to eligible producers of livestock, honeybees and farm-raised fish that have losses due to disease, adverse weather, or other conditions, such as blizzards and wildfires. ELAP assistance is provided for losses not covered by LFP and LIP. Producers who suffered eligible livestock, honeybee or farm-raised fish losses during 2012 and 2013 program years must submit a notice of loss and application for payment to their local FSA office by August 1, 2014. For 2014 program year losses, the notice of loss and an application for payment must be submitted by November 1, 2014.
ECP – Emergency Conservation Program
Producers who have an application on file and had the work completed should stop in with your bills so we can proceed with completing the application process.
Producers who do not have the practice completed please let the Allamakee County FSA Office know.
Rainfall Event – June 17-20
If you notice later after this event the crop is failing, as soon as you notice this, please stop in the office to report the number of acres that have failed.
If there were conservation practices damaged in this rain event, the Allamakee County FSA Office needs to know immediately to collect the data to forward on to the Iowa State level.
If you have any questions give the Allamakee County FSA Office a call at 563-568-2148.
