What's Up at the FSA Office?

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

Upcoming Deadlines and Important Dates
• November 22: Office closed for Thanksgiving

Fall Certification
Unlike previous years, producers are no longer required to report their fall forage acres by December 15 to FSA.  These crops can be reported in the spring, by July 15, along with your spring-planted crops.  If you do insure any fall forage, make sure you still report this to your crop insurance agent. 

Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)
At this time, due to lack of a Farm Bill (previous one expired on 09/30/2018) there is no CRP signup. We will update the public once we know more. For those waiting on cost-share for mid-contract management or establishment work, we recently received directives on how to proceed issuing those payments. This process has changed, again due to lack of a farm bill, so payments will take longer to issue. Please be patient. We are working through them as quick as we can.

County Committee Election
Producers in Iowa, Lansing, Center, LaFayette, Paint Creek, and Taylor Townships should have received their county committee voting ballots last week. The final day to return completed ballots to the FSA office is December 3. Committee members are a critical component of the day-to-day operations of FSA. They work to make FSA agricultural programs serve the needs of local producers.

Market Facilitation Program (MFP)
The MFP signup period will run through January 15, 2019, and you are encouraged to apply after harvest is 100% complete. We recommend you bring production evidence with you when you apply. Payments will be issued on 50% of the production multiplied by the MFP rate for the specific commodity. 

As harvest has concluded for some producers, payments have been going out for soybeans and corn. Payments have also been issued for dairy and hogs. Dairy payments are based on the production history established in the Margin Protection Program. Hog payments are based on inventory between July 15, 2018 and August 15, 2018. 

Marketing Assistance Loans
As harvest is wrapping up on the 2018 crop, the FSA office would like to remind producers that marketing assistance loans are available through our office. The 2018 loan rates are $1.87 for corn, and $4.98 for beans.  The interest rate is 3.625%.  If you do take out a marketing assistance loan with us, we will need a copy of your driver’s license as well as your spouses. We can make those copies when you are in the office.  Please make sure to bring both with you.