What's up at the FSA Office?

by Jeremy Leitz, Allamakee County Executive Director 563-568-2148

Upcoming Deadlines and Important Dates
• December 15: Acreages intended to be used for forage and pasture in 2018 need to be reported
• December 15: Sign up for, or opt out of, the Margin Protection Program

Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Payments
We began issuing payments for the Conservation Reserve Program the first week of October, and will continue through mid-October. CRP payments begin with those contracted prior to 2008. Remember that these take a few days to be deposited into your account.

ACR/PLC Payments
We issued payments for the Agricultural Risk Coverage/Price Loss Coverage program, more commonly known as ARC/PLC. These went out the first week of October, Allamakee County did receive an ACR-Co payment of $1.30 per base acre of corn. However, no payments were received for soybeans.

These payments are calculated on 85% of base acres, also incur a sequestration cost of just over 6%, and are for the 2016 crop year. These also take a few days to show in your account. 

CRP Mid-Contract Management (MCM) Notices
Some CRP contract holders will receive a packet of information detailing the MCM activities that need to be completed in FY18. You can begin those activities as early as October 1, 2017.  However, all activities need to be completed by May 14, 2018. Please stop in or call if you have any questions. 

USDA Processing Pending Conservation Reserve Program Continuous Enrollment Offers
The FSA will process many pending eligible offers for land enrollment in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), and will temporarily suspend accepting most new offers until later in the 2018 fiscal year.

All current, eligible CRP continuous enrollment offers made through September 30, 2017, except for those made under the Pollinator Habitat Initiative (CP42), will be approved,  Additionally, FSA is temporarily suspending acceptance of most offers going forward to provide time to review CRP allocation levels, and to avoid exceeding the statutory cap of 24 million acres.

The CRP acreage cap is a provision of the 2014 Farm Bill. Current enrollment is about 23.5 million acres nationwide. USDA is accepting all pending continuous enrollment offers that were made beginning May 4, 2017, and extending through September 30, 2017, except Pollinator Habitat Initiative offers.

Pollinator acreage offers are being declined because the program has met its acreage enrollment goal. Effective immediately, USDA is suspending acceptance of all new CRP continuous offers received or submitted after September 30, 2017. The suspension will continue until later in the 2018 fiscal year.

However, FSA will continue to accept eligible offers for state-specific Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) and CRP Grasslands enrollment. Offers received on or after Oct. 1, 2017, are subject to fiscal year 2018 rental rates which have been adjusted to reflect current market conditions and were established after careful review of the latest USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) cash rent data.