What's up at the FSA Office?

by Joyce Davidshofer, Allamakee County Executive Director

The next Allamakee County FSA committee meeting will be Thursday, September 25 at 9 a.m. in the Allamakee County FSA conference room located in Waukon.

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
November 1, 2014 – December 30, 2015 – Forage, pasture, grasses certification due for spring 2015 year. Late file fee will apply, no waivers.

Margin Protection Program
The sign-up for the new Margin Protection Program (MPP), which replaces the MILC program, started September 2, 2014 and continues until November 28, 2014. The program will take the highest amount of pounds in a year. The years being used for the MPP program are 2011, 2012 or 2013.
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach will be conducting several meetings in the surrounding counties. There will be a meeting held Thursday, September 18 from 10-11:30 a.m. at Farmers & Merchant Savings Bank in Waukon. Call the Allamakee County Extension Office at 563-568-6345.
NEW: There was a web-based dairy tool developed with University of Illinois which can be used by the dairy producer to help them make a decision. The website is http://dairymarkets.org/mpp/. If anyone has any questions stop in or give the office a call at 563-568-2148.

Livestock Forage Disaster Program
Eligible livestock types under LFP include alpacas, beef cattle, buffalo, beefalo, dairy cattle, deer, elk, emus, equine, goats, llamas, poultry, reindeer, sheep or swine that have been or would have been grazing the eligible grazing land or pastureland:
• During the normal grazing period for the specific type of grazing land or pastureland for the county, or;
• When the federal agency excluded the livestock producer from grazing the normally permitted livestock on the managed rangeland due to fire.
For grazing losses that occurred between Oct. 1, 2011 through Dec. 31, 2014, sign-up will begin on April 15, 2014, and end on Jan. 30, 2015. For 2015 and subsequent calendar years, producers must provide a completed application for payment and required supporting documentation to their FSA office within 30 calendar days after the end of the calendar year in which the grazing loss occurred.
The producer should include a copy of the grower contract if the producer is a contract grower and any other supporting documents required for determining eligibility. Supporting documents must show evidence of loss, current physical location of livestock inventory, evidence that grazing land or pastureland is owned or leased and evidence that if the loss of grazing was due to a fire that the producer was prohibited by the federal agency from grazing the normal permitted livestock on the managed rangeland due to a fire.
Sign-up continues until January 2015. If a producer comes in after October 1, 2014, 7.3% sequestration reduction will go into effect after this date. The Allamakee County FSA encourages producers who have not applied for the LFP program to contact the Allamakee County FSA Office to be put on a register or go to the online website at www.fsa.usda.gov/disaster-register to register before the October 1, 2014 deadline. Producers can only register one way or the other, but not both. For those who register, the 7/3% will not apply to them, even if the paperwork is not completed by October 1.
Contact the Allamakee County FSA Office for more information at 563-568-2148.

Early Contract Termination (“Early Out”) Provisions
The Agricultural Act of 2014 requires that the Secretary offer producers the opportunity for an “early out” for certain CRP contracts during FY 2015, if those contracts have been in effect for at least five years. June 5, 2014, USDA announced the intent to offer “early outs”.
The “early out” option will be available to CRP participants with acreage devoted to certain practices that meet eligibility criteria. The sign-up period for CRP participants to terminate acreage under the “early out” provisions is August 6, 2014, through January 30, 2015. Effective dates for “early outs” shall be no earlier than October 1, 2014.
Contracts must be in effect for at least five years to be eligible for termination under the “early out” provisions. Only CRP contracts with effective dates of October 1, 2009, or earlier are eligible for termination under the “early out” provisions.
Contact the Allamakee County FSA Office at 563-568-2148 or stop in at 635 9th Street NW, Waukon.