Farm Service Agency shares deadline information

VALLEY — Farm Service Agency (FSA) wants to remind producers that Friday, September 1 is the deadline to obtain crop year 2018 (NAP) Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program coverage for crops such as canola, rye and triticale.  Monday, October 2nd is the deadline to obtain crop year 2018 NAP coverage for crops such as wheat and barley for forage. Friday December 1, is the deadline to obtain crop year 2018 NAP coverage for perennial crops intended for forage and grazing. These crops include alfalfa, grass, mixed forages, clover and honey.

The acreage reporting deadline for crop year 2018 fall seeded and perennial crops is Wednesday, November 15. The FSA staff strongly encourages producers to obtain their 2018 coverage prior to the November 15th deadline to avoid any late file acreage reporting fees. 

Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) provides financial assistance to producers of noninsurable crops when low yields, loss of inventory or prevented planting occur due to natural disasters. An eligible producer is a landowner, tenant or sharecropper who shares in the risk of producing an eligible crop. The service fee is the lesser of $250 per crop or $750 per producer per administrative county, not to exceed a total of $1,875 for a producer with farming interests in multiple counties. This fee is authorized by the 2008 Act. Limited resource producers and Socially Disadvantaged producers may request a waiver of service fees.

To qualify for an administrative service fee waiver, the producer must meet both of the following criteria: earn no more than $100,000 (2004) gross income in farm sales from each of the previous two years (to be increased starting in FY 2004 to adjust for inflation, using the prices paid by farmers index as compiled by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS); have a total household income at or below the national poverty level for a family of four, or less than 50 percent of county median household for both of the previous two years or be a member of a group that has been subject to ethnic, gender, or racial prejudice.   

The 2014 Farm Bill has also made available ‘Buy-Up’ options for NAP crop coverage for those crops intended for harvest. Buy-Up coverage is not available for grazing practices. Contact your respective FSA County Office for more information regarding buy-up coverage.

Non-Recourse Marketing Assistance Loan

Its harvest time and Marketing Assistance Loans provide producers interim financing to meet cash flow needs without having to sell their commodities when market prices are typically at harvest-time lows. Allowing producers to store production on the farm or at harvest facilitates more orderly marketing of commodities throughout the year.   

Marketing assistance loans for covered commodities are non-recourse because the commodity is pledged as loan collateral and producers have the option of delivering the pledged collateral to the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) in satisfaction of the repayment of the outstanding loan for the loan at maturity. A settlement value is determined and applied to the outstanding loan principal and interest.    

The applicable interest rate for loans processed this month of August is 2.25 percent. Interest rates are announced at the beginning of each month. The term of a Marketing Assistance Loan is nine months. The final availability date for loans and LDP’s for crop year 2017 barley, canola, honey, oats and wheat is March 31, 2018.

Market loan repayment provisions specify, under certain circumstances, that producers may repay loans at less than principal plus accrued interest and other charges. Alternatively, loan deficiency payment (LDP) provisions specify that, in lieu of securing a loan, producers may be eligible for an LDP. For ELS cotton, LDP provisions do not apply and ELS cotton marketing assistance loans must be repaid at the loan rate plus interest.

(CREP) Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program

FSA would like to encourage any producers within Rio Grande Water Conservation District’s Sub district No. 1 who have any interest or question regarding the enrollment of CREP to contact their respective FSA county office as soon as possible.  FSA’s 2018 fiscal year begins October 1. Producers may sign up at any time. However, to receive the maximum of 15 full years of FSA rental payments, applications for contracts must be submitted and approved prior to September 30th. The process for application also involves producers working with NRCS who creates the conservation plan as well as working with the Rio Grande Water Conservation District to develop a water use agreement as well and applying for their additional benefits.

FSA may be contacted by calling 719-672-3314 option 2 for Costilla County, 719-589-5661 option 2 for Alamosa & Conejos Counties or 719-754-3400 option 2 for Saguache, Rio Grande, Mineral & Hinsdale Counties.