IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

• CRP Contract Management - Contact FSA or NRCS with questions.  Producers have been notified of required completion dates.
• County Committee Meeting – TBA
• September 1st - 2018 NAP application closing date for Triticale.
• September 14^th - End of CRP grazing for contract management.  Cattle must be removed by this date.
• FARM LOAN Personnel in Kiowa County Service Center – September 12th
• CRP Continuous Signup - Lesser Prairie Chicken, CRP Grassland acres are available.  Producers interested are urged to contact FSA Office. 

Disclaimer:  Information in this UPDATE is pertinent to Kiowa County FSA only.  Producers reading this and that do not have FSA interest in Kiowa County are advised to contact their local FSA Office.

BACK TO SCHOOL

 Where did the summer go?  That is a question I seem to ask myself every year.  One minute is the end of May and the next it’s the middle of August and school is back in session.   All of us here at the USDA Service Center wish the students and teachers a great school year. 

BREAKING-OUT NEW GROUND

Agricultural producers are reminded to consult with FSA and NRCS before breaking out new ground for production purposes as doing so without prior authorization may put a producer’s federal farm program benefits in jeopardy. This is especially true for land that must meet Highly Erodible Land (HEL) and Wetland Conservation (WC) provisions.  A Cultural Resource Review will be required on any land that has no history of being considered cropland.  Depending on location of the land; those reviews can take an extensive amount of time.  FSA Offices have to consult with State Historical Society and also any Indian Tribes that have interest in the area of concern. 

Producers with HEL determined soils are required to apply tillage, crop residue and rotational requirements as specified in their conservation plan. 

Producers should notify FSA as a first point of contact prior to conducting land clearing or drainage type projects to ensure the proposed actions meet compliance criteria such as clearing any trees to create new cropland, then these areas will need to be reviewed to ensure such work will not risk your eligibility for benefits. 

Landowners and operators complete the form AD-1026 - Highly Erodible Land Conservation (HELC) and Wetland Conservation (WC) Certification to identify the proposed action and allow FSA to determine whether a referral to Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) for further review is necessary.  

CRP CONTRACT MANAGEMENT

With the conditions being favorable and wheat planting on the horizon; now is a great time for CRP producers who have a contract management due to being making arrangements for completion or better yet getting the management activity completed. 

There are a number of producers who have contract management due by September 30, 2018.  If producers are considering a tillage operation or a haying operation, those operations must be completed in two separate fiscal years.  Fiscal year is October 1 to September 30 respectively. 

Example - producer has a CRP contract due for contract management prior to September 30, 2018 and a disking operation is being considered.  The first 50% of the acres must be completed prior to September 30, 2017 in FY 17 and the balance to be completed by September 30, 2018 in FY 18.  The same example includes routine haying as only 50% of the acres can be hayed in one Fiscal year. 

There are also activities that can be performed on 100% of the acres in one Fiscal year.  Those are harrowing, routine grazing and inter-seeding.   However, for haying and disking those have to be completed in separate fiscal years.  NRCS and FSA employees urge producers who have questions and concerns in regards to CRP contract management to please call the office. 

WHEAT PRICES

Wheat prices at the terminals continued on a down-hill spiral this past week.  There is not an effective LDP (Loan Deficiency Payment) as the posted county price is not below the loan rate of $2.84 bushel. There has been some interest in marketing loans.  Marketing Assistance Loans are available for both warehouse and farm-stored grain.  The loan is a 9 month loan with a loan interest rate for August of 2.250%.    Producers are urged to contact the FSA Office for further information regarding Marketing loans. 

The past week’s posted county price review.

Kiowa County FSA Committee

• Destiny Haase -  LAA 2 – Central area – Committee Chairperson
• Sean Harkness – LAA 1 – East area – Committee Vice-Chairperson
• Michael Zimmerman – LAA3 – West area – Committee Regular Member

USDA SERVICE CENTER CONTACT INFORMATION

Telephone 719-438-5851 FSA (Ext 2), NRCS (Ext 3). FSA Fax number: fax2mail 844-332-7501

E-mail individuals firstname.lastname@co.usda.gov (Example firstname.lastname@co.usda.gov, dawna.weirich, charla.ferris, hallie.barlow, marvin.watson, marlin.miller, Alicia.L.james

KIOWA COUNTY FARM LOAN CONTACT INFO – CALL FOR AN APPOINTMENT

Telephone 719-336-3437 (ext2) Mary Rhoades, mary.rhoades@co.usda.gov

SERVICE CENTER OFFICE HOURS: 

Monday through Friday - 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  Friday, by appointment only.

FSA INFORMATION

For information on programs visit our website located at www.fsa.usda.gov or like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.