What's Up at the USDA Office?

Deadlines/Dates
July 10: Supplemental Disaster Relief Program (SDRP) opened
July 30: Joint FSA/NRCS CRP and Kernza Field Day
August 1: Deadline to submit a COC Nomination and Deadline to request a Reconstitution 
August 15: Deadline to enroll in Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP)
September 30: Deadline for ARCPLC Revisions

Supplemental Disaster Relief Program (SDRP) SIGNUP
Producers who suffered eligible crop losses due to natural disasters in 2023 and 2024 can now apply for $16 billion in assistance through the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program (SDRP).

To expedite the implementation of SDRP, USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) is delivering assistance in two stages. Stage One sign-up started on July 10.

This first stage is open to producers with eligible crop losses that received assistance under crop insurance or NAP during 2023 and 2024, all producers with identifiable losses were mailed prefilled applications. “American farmers are no stranger to natural disasters that cause losses that leave no region or crop unscathed. Under President Trump’s leadership, USDA has worked around the clock to deliver this relief directly to our farmers,” said Secretary Rollins. “We are taking swift action to ensure farmers will have the resources they need to continue to produce the safest, most reliable, and most abundant food supply in the world.” This announcement follows Secretary Rollins’ comprehensive plan to deliver the total amount of Congressionally appropriated $30 billion in disaster assistance to farmers and ranchers this year. These programs will complement the forthcoming state block grants that USDA is working with 14 different states to develop. This expeditious timeline is in direct contrast to the Biden Administration’s USDA where disaster relief programs took an average of 13 months - and in one case 19 months - to reach farmers and ranchers.

To date, USDA has issued more than $7.8 billion in Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP) payments to more than half a million eligible producers. Additionally, USDA has provided over $1 billion in emergency relief through the Emergency Livestock Relief Program to producers who suffered grazing losses due to drought or wildfires in calendar years 2023 and 2024.

To apply for SDRP, producers must submit the FSA-526, Supplemental Disaster Relief Program (SDRP) Stage One Application, in addition to having other forms on file with FSA. Please call the Allamakee County FSA office and we will walk you through filling out your application. SDRP Stage One Payment Calculation Stage One payments are based on the SDRP adjusted NAP or Federal crop insurance coverage level the producer purchased for the crop. The net NAP or net federal crop insurance payments (NAP or crop insurance indemnities minus administrative fees and premiums) will be subtracted from the SDRP calculated payment amount.

For Stage One, the total SDRP payment to indemnified producers will not exceed 90% of the loss and an SDRP payment factor of 35% will be applied to all Stage One payments. If additional SDRP funds remain, FSA may issue a second payment.

Future Insurance Coverage Requirements - All producers who receive SDRP payments are required to purchase federal crop insurance or NAP coverage for the next two available crop years at the 60% coverage level or higher. Producers who fail to purchase crop insurance for the next two available crop years will be required to refund the SDRP payment, plus interest, to USDA.

SDRP Stage 2 - FSA will announce additional SDRP assistance for uncovered losses, including non-indemnified shallow losses and quality losses and how to apply later this fall.

For additional questions about Supplemental Disaster Relief Program (SDRP), or assistance applying, please contact the Allamakee County FSA office at 563-568-2148, Ext. 2. 

Nominations Open for the 2025 County Committee Elections
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) is now accepting nominations for county committee members and encourages all farmers, ranchers, and FSA program participants to take part in the Allamakee County Committee election nomination process.

Elections will occur in certain Local Administrative Areas (LAA) for members. LAAs are elective areas for FSA committees in a single county or multi-county jurisdiction. For Allamakee County, elections will take place in LAA #1, which consists of Waterloo, Union City, Hanover, French Creek, Union Prairie, and Makee townships. Customers can identify which LAA they or their farming or ranching operation is in by using our GIS locator tool available at fsa.usda.gov/elections.

County committee members make important decisions about how Federal farm programs are administered locally. All nomination forms for the 2025 election must be postmarked or received in the local FSA office by August 1, 2025.   

Agricultural producers who participate or cooperate in a USDA program and reside in the LAA that is up for election this year, may be nominated for candidacy for the county committee. A cooperating producer is someone who has provided information about their farming or ranching operation to FSA, even if they have not applied or received program benefits.

Individuals may nominate themselves or others and qualifying organizations may also nominate candidates. USDA encourages minority producers, women, and beginning farmers or ranchers to nominate, vote and hold office.

Nationwide, more than 7,700 dedicated members of the agricultural community serve on FSA county committees. The committees are made up of 3 to 11 members who serve three-year terms. Committee members are vital to how FSA carries out disaster programs, as well as conservation, commodity and price support programs, county office employment and other agricultural issues.   

For more information on FSA county committee elections, including fact sheets, nomination forms and FAQs, contact your local FSA office. 

Farm Storage Facility Loans - New Option
The Farm Storage Facility Loan Program (FSFL) allows producers of eligible commodities to obtain low-interest financing to build or upgrade (new or used) storage and handling facilities on their farm.

Loans include but are not limited to storage bins, wet holding bins, new concrete foundations, permanently affixed grain handling and drying equipment, equipment to improve, maintain, or monitor the quality of stored grain, silage bunkers, grain carts, semi, grain trailers, hay storage structures, bulk tanks for dairy operations and more! This list continues to grow, ask if you don’t see your upcoming project listed.

Bale wrappers are a popular new item recently added as eligible for the FSFL program.

The maximum principal amount of a loan through FSFL is $500,000.  Participants are required to provide a minimum down payment of 15%, with the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) providing a loan for the remaining 85% of the net cost of the eligible FSFL.  Loans up to $100,000 can be secured by a promissory note/security agreement and loans exceeding $100,000 require additional security.

You do not need to demonstrate the lack of commercial credit availability to apply. The loans are designed to assist a diverse range of farming operations, including small and mid-sized businesses, new farmers, operations supplying local food and farmers markets, non-traditional farm products, and underserved producers.

July 2025 interest rates range from 3.875% to 4.625% with terms range from 3-12 years. Rates change monthly. Loan terms and rates will vary.

An FSFL must be approved by the Allamakee County Committee before any site preparation, delivery, or construction begins.

Applying for Beginning Farmer Loans
The Farm Service Agency (FSA) assists beginning farmers to finance agricultural enterprises. Under these designated farm loan programs, FSA can provide financing to eligible applicants through either direct or guaranteed loans. FSA defines a beginning farmer as a person who:
• Has operated a farm for not more than 10 years
• Will materially and substantially participate in the operation of the farm
• Agrees to participate in a loan assessment, borrower training and financial management program sponsored by FSA
• Does not own a farm in excess of 30 percent of the county’s average size farm.

For more information contact, contact the Allamakee/Winneshiek County Farm Loan Team at 563-382-8777.

Obtaining Payments Due to Deceased Producers
In order to claim a Farm Service Agency (FSA) payment on behalf of a deceased producer, all program conditions for the payment must have been met before the applicable producer’s date of death. 

If a producer earned an FSA payment prior to his or her death, the following is the order of precedence for the representatives of the producer:
 • administrator or executor of the estate
• the surviving spouse
• surviving sons and daughters, including adopted children
• surviving father and mother
• surviving brothers and sisters
• heirs of the deceased person who would be entitled to payment according to the State law
 
For FSA to release the payment, the legal representative of the deceased producer must file a form FSA-325 to claim the payment for themselves or an estate. The county office will verify that the application, contract, loan agreement, or other similar form requesting payment issuance, was signed by the applicable deadline by the deceased or a person legally authorized to act on their behalf at that time of application.

If the application, contract or loan agreement form was signed by someone other than the deceased participant, FSA will determine whether the person submitting the form has the legal authority to submit the form.

Payments will be issued to the respective representative’s name using the deceased program participant’s tax identification number. Payments made to representatives are subject to offset regulations for debts owed by the deceased. 

FSA is not responsible for advising persons in obtaining legal advice on how to obtain program benefits that may be due to a participant who has died, disappeared or who has been declared incompetent.

Making Farm Reconstitutions
When changes in farm ownership or operation take place, farm reconstitution is necessary. The reconstitution - or recon - is the process of combining or dividing farms or tracts of land based on the farming operation.

To be effective for the current fiscal year, farm combinations and farm divisions must be requested by August 1 of the fiscal year for farms subject to the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) program. A reconstitution is considered to be requested when all of the required signatures are on FSA-155 and all other applicable documentation, such as proof of ownership, is submitted.

Total Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and non-ARC/PLC farms may be reconstituted at any time. 

The following are the different methods used when doing a farm recon: 
• Estate Method - the division of bases, allotments and quotas for a parent farm among heirs in settling an estate
• Designation of Landowner Method - may be used when (1) part of a farm is sold or ownership is transferred; (2) an entire farm is sold to two or more persons; (3) farm ownership is transferred to two or more persons; (4) part of a tract is sold, or ownership is transferred; (5) a tract is sold to two or more persons; or (6) tract ownership is transferred to two or more persons. In order to use this method, the land sold must have been owned for at least three years, or a waiver granted, and the buyer and seller must sign a Memorandum of Understanding
• DCP Cropland Method - the division of bases in the same proportion that the DCP cropland for each resulting tract relates to the DCP cropland on the parent tract
• Default Method - the division of bases for a parent farm with each tract maintaining the bases attributed to the tract level when the reconstitution is initiated in the system.