What's Up at the USDA Office?
Upcoming Deadlines/Dates
May 26: Office Closed for Memorial Day
May 31: Deadline to request a Marketing Assistance Loan (MALs) for 2024 farm stored or warehouse stored grain
June 6: Deadline to submit a CRP offer
June 19: Office closed in observance of Juneteenth
July 15: Deadline for Acreage Reporting
FSA is accepting offers for both the General and Continuous Conservation Reserve Program for 2025
USDA announced several Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) enrollment opportunities for agricultural producers and landowners. USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) is accepting offers for both the General and Continuous CRP today through June 6, 2025.
CRP, USDA’s flagship conservation program, celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. For four decades, CRP has provided financial and technical support to agricultural producers and landowners who place unproductive or marginal cropland under contract for 10-15 years and who agree to voluntarily convert the land to beneficial vegetative cover to improve water quality, prevent soil erosion and support wildlife habitat. The American Relief Act, 2025, extended provisions for CRP through September 30, 2025.
General CRP (Signup 64)
Agricultural producers and landowners submit offers for General CRP through a competitive bid process. Offers are ranked and scored, by FSA, using nationally established environmental benefits criteria. USDA will announce accepted offers once ranking and scoring for all offers is completed. In addition to annual rental payments, approved General CRP participants may also be eligible for cost-share assistance to establish long-term, resource-conserving vegetative cover.
Continuous CRP (Signup 63)
Unlike General CRP, Continuous CRP offers are not subject to a competitive bid process. To ensure enrolled acres do not exceed the current statutory cap of 27 million acres, FSA is accepting Continuous CRP offers on a first-come, first-served basis through June 6. However, should allotted CRP acreage remain available following the June 6 deadline, FSA will accept continuous CRP offers from interested landowners through July 31, 2025, and may be subsequently considered for acceptance, in batches, if it’s determined that the offered acres support USDA’s conservation priorities.
Continuous CRP participants voluntarily offer environmentally sensitive lands, typically smaller parcels than offered through General CRP including wetlands, riparian buffers, and varying wildlife habitats. In return, they receive annual rental payments and cost-share assistance to establish long-term, resource-conserving vegetative cover.
Continuous CRP enrollment options:
• State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement Initiative: Restores vital habitat in order to meet high-priority state wildlife conservation goals.
Highly Erodible Land Initiative: Producers and landowners can enroll in CRP to establish long-term cover on highly erodible cropland that has a weighted erodibility index greater than or equal to 20.
• Clean Lakes, Estuaries and Rivers (CLEAR) Initiative: Prioritizes water quality practices on the land that, if enrolled, will help reduce sediment loadings, nutrient loadings, and harmful algal blooms. The vegetative covers also contribute to increased wildlife populations.
• CLEAR30 (a component of the CLEAR Initiative): Offers additional incentives for water quality practice adoption and can be accessed in 30-year contracts.
• Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program: Addresses high priority conservation objectives of states and Tribal governments on agricultural lands in specific geographic areas.
Grassland and Expiring CRP Acres
FSA will announce dates for Grassland CRP signup in the near future. Additionally, landowners with acres enrolled in CRP set to expire Sept. 30, 2025, can offer acres for re-enrollment beginning today. A producer can offer to enroll new acres into CRP and also offer to re-enroll any acres expiring Sept. 30, 2025.
For more information on CRP participant and land eligibility, approved conservation practices and detailed program fact sheets, visit FSA’s CRP webpage. Interested producers should apply through the FSA at their local USDA Service Center.
Signed into law in 1985, CRP is one of the largest voluntary private-lands conservation programs in the United States. Originally intended to primarily control soil erosion and potentially stabilize commodity prices by taking marginal lands out of production, the program has evolved over the years, providing many conservation and economic benefits.
2025 Crop Reporting is Underway
To be eligible for Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) program, Marketing Assistance Loan (MAL), Loan Deficiency Payment (LDP), and Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), producers must submit an acreage report to account for all cropland on all farms. The crop reporting deadline for all spring seeded crops in Iowa is July 15, 2025.
The items needed to report your acreage include planting dates, type and variety of crops and accurate acreages. It is the producer’s responsibility to accurately report acres and the producer’s share (risk) in the individual crops, discrepancies found later may affect eligibility for all FSA administered programs. Acreage reports may be filed only after crops are planted.
Late Filed Crop Reports: FSA-578’s (Report of Commodities) filed or revised after July 15, 2025, will be charged a measurement service fee of $46 per farm. FSA is required to conduct a site visit on any late filed or revised crop reports. Please review your crop reports before July 15 to ensure accuracy of the crop planted, planting dates, intended uses, acres, and crop shares.
Prevent Plant and Failed Acres: If you will be reporting prevent plant or failed acreage, please visit your crop insurance agent before reporting the acreage to FSA. June 15 is the deadline to timely report prevent plant corn, June 30 for soybeans. Prevent plant acres must be marked on a map and on a form CCC-576
Save Time - Make an Appointment with FSA
Producers are encouraged to call their local FSA office to schedule an appointment to ensure maximum use of their time and to make sure FSA staff is available to tend to their important business needs. Please call your local FSA office ahead to set an appointment and to discuss any records or documentation that might be needed during your appointment. To find your local FSA office, visit farmers.gov/working-with-us/service-center-locator.
Annual Review of Payment Eligibility for New Crop Year
FSA and NRCS program applicants for benefits are required to submit a completed CCC-902 Farming Operation Plan and CCC-941 Average Gross Income (AGI) Certification and Consent to Disclosure of Tax Information for FSA to determine the applicant’s payment eligibility and establish the maximum payment limitation applicable to the program applicant.
Participants are not required to annually submit new CCC-902s for payment eligibility and payment limitation purposes unless a change in the farming operation occurs that may affect the previous determination of record. A valid CCC-902 filed by the participant is considered to be a continuous certification used for all payment eligibility and payment limitation determinations applicable for the program benefits requested.
Participants are responsible for ensuring that all CCC-902 and CCC-941 and related forms on file in the county office are updated, current, and correct. Participants are required to timely notify the county office of any changes in the farming operation that may affect the previous determination of record by filing a new or updated CCC-902 as applicable.
Changes that may require a new determination include, but are not limited to, a change of:
• Shares of a contract, which may reflect:
• A land lease from cash rent to share rent
• A land lease from share rent to cash rent (subject to the cash rent tenant rule)
• A modification of a variable/fixed bushel-rent arrangement
• The size of the producer’s farming operation by the addition or reduction of cropland that may affect the application of a cropland factor
• The structure of the farming operation, including any change to a member’s share
• The contribution of farm inputs of capital, land, equipment, active personal labor, and/or active personal management
• Farming interests not previously disclosed on CCC-902 including the farming interests of a spouse or minor child
• Certifications of average AGI are required to be filed annually for participation in an annual USDA program. For multi-year conservation contracts and NRCS easements, a certification of AGI must be filed prior to approval of the contract or easement and is applicable for the duration of the contract period.
Participants are encouraged to file or review these forms within the deadlines established for each applicable program for which program benefits are being requested.
Reminders for FSA Direct and Guaranteed Borrowers with Real Estate Security
Farm loan borrowers who have pledged real estate as security for their Farm Service Agency (FSA) direct or guaranteed loans are responsible for maintaining loan collateral. Borrowers must obtain prior consent or approval from FSA or the guaranteed lender for any transaction that affects real estate security. These transactions include, but are not limited to:
• Leases of any kind
• Easements of any kind
• Subordinations
• Partial releases
• Sales
Failure to meet or follow the requirements in the loan agreement, promissory note, and other security instruments could lead to nonmonetary default which could jeopardize your current and future loans.
It is critical that borrowers keep an open line of communication with their FSA loan staff or guaranteed lender when it comes to changes in their operation. For more information on borrower responsibilities, read Your FSA Farm Loan Compass.
