USDA Update – February 11, 2020

Eads USDA Service Center Staff

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

SERVICE CENTER CLOSED - Monday, February 17 – President’s Day
CRP General Signup #54 - Deadline February 28, 2020
2019 & 2020 - ARCPLC signup - Begins October 1 - Deadline March 16
Farm Loan personnel in Eads Office – 2^nd Tuesday every month

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.

SERVICE CENTER CLOSED

All USDA offices will be closed on Monday, February 17 in observance of President’s Day. The Service Center will reopen on Tuesday, February 18^th.

CRP GENERAL SIGNUP

Officially 14 workdays left in the General CRP signup. Kiowa County producers are being responsive to emails and notifications. Producers who have received information regarding their field assessments need to call the office and schedule an appointment to complete the paperwork to submit an offer.

Just to reiterate a few things regarding producers’ options with expiring 2020 CRP contracts.

Producers with expiring contract(s) will receive the last payment on the expiring contract(s) in October 2020. If the new offer is accepted and producers continue on with the process of completing a Conservation Plan with NRCS and the CRP-1 contract is approved - the contract start date will be October 1, 2020.

Producers with expiring State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement (SAFE) have the option for an additional 20 EBI points under the N1b factor. To accept the 20 additional N1b points, producers agree to a wildlife conservation plan, which will be more restrictive than a general conservation plan. Producers also have the option to offer the land for longer than a 10 year contract, producers can choose up to a 15 year contract or any year between a 10 and 15 year contract.

All or a portion of the acreage may be eligible for enrollment in a CRP grasslands contract. CRP grasslands is working CRP grassland program. Producers who meet eligibility can enroll land for a 10 – 15 contract that would be effective on October 1, 2020. The sign-up period for CRP grasslands is tentatively scheduled for March 16 through May 15, 2020. Contracts that are accepted will be effective October 1, 2020. The 2020 Grassland rates per acre for the area are:

Kiowa and Lincoln - $6.00
Cheyenne - $7.00
Prowers - $5.00
Bent and Crowley - $4.00

Transition Incentives Program or better known as TIP is also available. TIP can provide two additional annual rental payment after the contract expires on the condition that the CRP producer agree to sell or lease (minimum 5 years) to a beginning or veteran farmer or rancher or a member of a socially disadvantaged group (gender not eligible). The CRP producer and the new producer cannot be family members. It is not required that the land be returned to actively farming, the new landowners or renters are required to obtain a grazing or farming conservation plan with NRCS. The signup for TIP ends for these expiring contracts on August 21, 2020.

Last choice is to do nothing, allow the contract to expire. Producers who are going to actively begin farming the land, we ask that you please notify the county office of your intentions. You will also be required to obtain a conservation plan with NRCS. The earliest producers can begin activities on the land is after the primary nesting season which is July 16, 2020 with a prorates payment reduction for the 2020 annual rental payment.

LIVESTOCK PRODUCERS

It’s calving season in SE Colorado and the weather is ever changing, there is a program available with FSA for producers who suffer livestock losses in excess of normal mortality due to an adverse weather event. In this area, an eligible adverse weather event could be hail, lightning, tornado, winter storm that lasts three consecutive days and is accompanied by high winds, freezing rain or sleet, heavy snowfall and extremely cold temperatures, blizzards, wildfires, extreme heat or cold and straight-line winds. Drought is NOT an eligible cause of loss for this program.

Producer responsibilities concerning LIP -

File a notice of loss within 30 days of the occurrence of the loss in the FSA Office in the county where the physical losses occurred. Example: producer is grazing cattle in Prowers county, an eligible adverse weather event occurs, and the livestock producer experiences losses in excess of normal mortality. The producer is required to file the notice of loss in Prowers County, the notice of loss can be filed in any FSA Office, but the physical location of the loss will be Prowers County.

Must supply the FSA Office with documentation of losses. There are numerous ways to document the losses, the most popular is pictures taken on a cell phone. FSA encourages producers to download an app on their phone that records, the time and date of the picture on the picture.

Submit documentation of beginning livestock inventory prior to the loss event. It’s imperative that livestock producers keep good reliable or verifiable records. All records will be reviewed by the County Committee and State Office personnel. Records that do not meet the definition of reliable or verifiable will not be approved.

ARCPLC ENROLLMENT -

Producers who received a postcard regarding 2019 ARCPLC enrollment, please be aware of the following. The postcard was sent to all landowners and operators with ARCPLC farms. Producers who are owners need to call their operators and determine if they have made the elections for the farm. The election is made by the producers with interest in the 2019 crops. If the land is cash leased, the operator will make the election.

Again, few reminders concerning the enrollment.

2019 and 2020 election - producer with control of farm in 2019 makes the election for the two years. If there is change in 2020 for the farm, the producers with shares in the commodity can be changed, but the election remains the same.
Beginning crop year 2021 - producers can make an election yearly through 2023.
Producers who fail to make an election for 2019 will be defaulted into the previous election on the farm. Ex. If the farm was enrolled into ARC-CO for 2014 Farm Bill - that will be the defaulted election for 2019 and 2020 the farm will not be eligible for 2019 payment.
ARC-CO or PLC election options - NOT dependent on planted crops for the year, paid specifically on farms base acres that are present on the farm.
For all covered commodities with base acres on the farm.
On a crop-by-crop basis
Not applicable if an ARC-IC election is made on the farm.

ARC-IC

All covered commodities AND the farm. ARC-IC is the only program dependent on the crop planted for the year, base acres are used in the computation for payment.

Currently - 2019 Price Loss Coverage (PLC) rates are: