What's Up at the FSA Office?
by Jeremy Leitz, Allamakee County Executive Director (563) 568-2148
Upcoming Deadlines/Dates
May 15 - August 1: Primary Nesting Season. No MCM activities on CRP acres.
June 3 - August 23: CRP Continuous Signup 52
June 17 - September 20: Dairy Margin Coverage Program Sign-Up
July 15: Last Day to Certify Crop Acres
Crop Reporting
Allamakee county farmers are reminded to report all spring planted crops to the FSA office by July 15 to remain eligible for FSA and other USDA programs. Please remember to bring planting dates with you. It is the producer’s responsibility to accurately report acres and producer’s shares in individual crops. Discrepancies found later may affect eligibility for all FSA-administered programs. Late-filed crop reports are assessed a $46 (per) farm visit fee.
Prevent plan applications are due by July 15. Applications received after that are charged a $46 per farm late fee. This is a one-time change from previous years where these are due within 15 days of the final planting date for the crop.
Please review your crop reports to ensure they are filed accurately. Any revisions needed after July 15 are charged a $46 per farm late fee. Always review your crop reports prior to the deadline to ensure that crops, planting dates, intended uses, acres and shares are correct.
July 2019 CCC and FSFL Interest Rates
New rates were issued for the month of July and are as follows:
• 1.875% for 3 years
• 1.875% for 5 years
• 2.000% for 7 years
• 2.125% for 10 years
• 2.250% for 12 years
• 2.250% for 15 years
Crop year commodity loan rate for July is 3.125%
Nominations Open for the 2019 County Committee Elections
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) encourages all eligible farmers, ranchers, and FSA program participants to take part in the Allamakee County Committee election nomination process. The 2019 election is in LAA-1 which includes producers in Waterloo, Union City, Hanover, French Creek, Union Prairie, and Makee townships.
FSA’s county committees are a critical component of the day-to-day operations of FSA and allow grassroots input and local administration of federal farm programs.
Committees are comprised of locally elected agricultural producers responsible for the fair and equitable administration of FSA farm programs in their counties. Committee members are accountable to the Secretary of Agriculture. If elected, members become part of a local decision making and farm program delivery process.
A county committee is composed of three to 11 elected members from local administrative areas (LAA). Each member serves a three-year term. One-third of the seats on these committees are open for election each year.
All nomination forms for the 2019 election must be postmarked or received in the local USDA service center by Aug. 1, 2019.
For more information on FSA county committee elections and appointments, refer to the FSA fact sheet: Eligibility to Vote and Hold Office as a COC Member available online at: fsa.usda.gov/elections.
Dairy Margin Coverage
Sign-up for new Dairy Margin Coverage program began on June 17 and runs through September 20, 2019. Coverage is retroactive to January.
Coverage levels range from $4.00 to $9.50 per cwt, in $0.50 increments. Coverage percentage of the dairy operation’s production history ranges from five percent to 95 percent, in five percent increments. You have the option to receive a 25% discount on your annual premiums if you lock in for five years.
You cannot change your coverage if you lock in.
The Farm Bill also allows producers who participated in MPP-Dairy from 2014-2017 to receive a repayment or credit for part of the premiums paid into the program. Producers that elect the premium reimbursement will have that 75% credit applied to their 2019 Dairy Margin Coverage premiums.
Eligible dairy operations must have a production history determined by Farm Service Agency. For most operations, production history is based on the highest milk production in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Newer dairy operations have other options for determining production history. Producers may contact their local Farm Service Agency office to get their verified production history.
Farm Service Agency and the University of Wisconsin partnered on the development of a Dairy Margin Coverage decision support tool that helps producers determine the level of coverage under a variety of conditions that will provide them with the strongest coverage. Access the tool at https://dairymarkets.org/MPP.
