IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

• JANUARY 17, 2022 - SERVICE CENTER CLOSED - MARTIN LUTHER KING BIRTHDAY  
• JANUARY 30, 2022 - 2021 LIVESTOCK FORAGE PROGRAM - January 31, signup deadline. 
• FEBRUARY 28, 2022 - DEADLINE TO FILE APPLICATION FOR PAYMENT - 2021 LIP ‘LIVESTOCK INDEMNITY PROGRAM’.   
• MARCH 15, 2022 - 2022 ARCPLC Election and Enrollment Deadline

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. 

THE USDA SERVICE CENTER HAS A DROP BOX AVAILABLE ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE BUILDING. 

COVID-19 UPDATE - The USDA Service Center received instructions last week that all customers visiting any Service Center will be required to wear a mask, regardless of vaccination status. 

SERVICE CENTER CLOSED 

All USDA Service Centers will be closed on Monday, January 17, 2022 in observance of Martin Luther King’s Birthday.  Service Centers will reopen on Tuesday, January 18, 2022.  

PRODUCER PAPERWORK

The office has a number of producers who have been sent farm or eligibility forms that need to be signed and the office has not received the signed document back in the office.

We ask that when you receive an email or an envelope that contains paperwork that needs your signature; that you please complete it promptly and return it to the office.  The office staff spends time sending out reminders or calling the producer; time that could be used in other programs.  

CRP SIGNUP - WHEN?  

The office is receiving a number of calls from producers with CRP contracts that expire on September 30, 2022.  The FSA Office is anticipating a signup to begin sometime in January; however, no official notice has been received to date.   

Producers with expiring CRP contract(s) will receive a letter from USDA informing the producer that they have contracts that will be expiring in September 2022 and that USDA will be conducting a CRP signup.  In that letter will be the dates for the signup, which normally can be 30 to 45 days.  The letter will also instruct producers to notify the FSA Office to schedule an appointment.  Until the producers receive the notification of expiring contracts and that signup will begin, there is nothing that needs to be done.  Keep your eye on the mail.  

2022 ARCPLC ELECTION AND ENROLLMENT

The plea to operators in last week’s UPDATE didn’t garner much response; therefore, the staff will begin calling operators this week to get the ARCPLC ball rolling.  Operators and owners with crop share lease; need to agree with the election made.  Operators who changed elections in 2021 no longer have multi-year contracts and the election and enrollment must be completed yearly until 2023.  Operators with multi-year contracts are not required to complete an election and enrollment; however, if a change occurs on the farm the multi-year enrollment is no longer valid.  Multi-year election and enrollment was available only for 2019 crop year.  The deadline for election and enrollment is March 15, 2022.  

Again, below is a breakdown on the programs available. 

PLC - Price Loss Coverage - PLC program payments are issued when the effective price of a covered commodity is less than the respective reference price for that commodity. The effective price equals the higher of the market year average price (MYA) or the national average loan rate for the covered commodity. Currently the effective price of covered commodities is more than the reference price; therefore, there is no projected payments for 2022 PLC.  

ARC-CO - Agriculture Risk Coverage County - The ARC-CO program provides income support tied to historical base acres, not current production, of covered commodities. ARC-CO payments are issued when the actual county crop revenue of a covered commodity is less than the ARC-CO guarantee for the covered commodity.  

ARC-IC – Agriculture Risk Coverage – Individual - The ARC-IC program provides income support tied to individual farm yields.  The election for ARC-IC is done at the farm level not at the existing commodity base acre.  If a producer elects ARC-IC; they will need to provide historical production to determine a benchmark yield.  

2021 LIVESTOCK INDEMNITY PROGRAM or LIP

Producers who filed a notice of loss for the loss of livestock during an extreme weather event during the 2021 calendar year have until February 28, 2022 to file an application for payment regarding those losses. 

To be eligible for LIP:

 • A livestock owner must have legally owned the livestock on the day the livestock died and/or were injured by an eligible loss condition 

•  An owner’s livestock must have either: 

            • died in excess of normal mortality as a direct result of an eligible loss condition, 

            • or been injured as a direct result of an eligible loss condition and were sold at a reduced price. 

Eligible livestock must: 

            • Have been maintained for commercial use as part of a farming operation on the day they died; and 

            • Not have been produced or maintained for reasons other than commercial use as part of a farming operation. Excluded livestock includes wild free-roaming animals, pets or animals used for recreational purposes, such as hunting, roping or for show.

Applying for LIP

Owners or contract growers who suffer livestock losses due to an eligible cause of loss must submit a notice of loss and an application for payment to the local FSA office that serves the physical location county where the livestock losses occurred. All of the owner’s or contract grower’s interest in inventory of eligible livestock in that county for the calendar year must be accounted for and summarized when determining eligibility. 

An owner or contract grower must file a notice of loss within 30 calendar days of when the loss of livestock is first apparent as well as file an application for payment within 60 calendar days after the end of the calendar year in which the eligible loss condition occurred. 

For 2021 LIP losses, livestock owners and contract growers may apply for 2021 LIP benefits in the physical location county where the loss occurred.