USDA Update – March 2, 2021

Eads USDA Service Center Staff

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

2021 ARCPLC signup – deadline March 15, 2021
2021 NAP DEADLINE - March 15 - spring seeded crops
CRP General CRP signup #56 – Extended indefinitely
CRP EMERGENCY GRAZING AVAILABLE – Contact the FSA Office if interested.

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.

NAP DEADLINE – MARCH 15

The 2021 application for coverage for spring seeded crop deadline for NAP eligible crops is fast approaching. Interested producers must apply for coverage using FSA form CCC-471, “Application for Coverage,” and pay the applicable service fee by Monday, March 15, 2021 at the FSA office where their farm records are maintained. These must be filed by the application closing date. Closing dates vary by crop, so it is important to contact your local FSA office as soon as possible to ensure you don’t miss an application closing date. At the time of application, each producer will be provided a copy of the NAP Basic Provisions, which describes how NAP works and all the requirements you must follow to maintain NAP coverage. NAP participants must provide accurate annual reports of their production in non-loss years to ensure their NAP coverage is beneficial to their individual operation.

Producers are required to pay service fees which vary depending on the number of crops and number of counties your operation is located in. The NAP service fee is the lesser of $325 per crop or $825 per producer per administrative county, not to exceed a total of $1,950 for a producer with farming interests in multiple counties. Premiums also apply when producers elect higher levels of coverage with a maximum premium of $15,750 per person or legal entity depending on the maximum payment limitation that may apply to the NAP covered producer. The service fee can be waived for beginning, socially disadvantaged, qualifying veteran, and limited resource farmers and rancher. These farmers and ranchers can also receive a 50 percent reduction in the premium.

NAP Buy-Up Coverage Option

NAP offers higher levels of coverage, from 50 to 65 percent of expected production in 5 percent increments, at 100 percent of the average market price. Buy-up levels of NAP coverage are available if the producer can show at least one year of previously successfully growing the crop for which coverage is being requested.

Producers of organics and crops marketed directly to consumers also may exercise the “buy-up” option to obtain NAP coverage of 100 percent of the average market price at the coverage levels of between 50 and 65 percent of expected production.

NAP basic coverage is available at 55 percent of the average market price for crop losses that exceed 50 percent of expected production.   

Buy-up coverage is not available for crops intended for grazing

CRP EMERGENCY GRAZING

Many counties in Colorado are eligible for Emergency grazing of eligible CRP acres. If interested in Emergency grazing of CRP; we encourage producers to contact your local FSA office for more information.

Currently producers can graze at 100% stocking rate until March 15, which is the beginning of the Primary Nesting season for wildlife. Producers can request to graze during the primary nesting season if all of the following occur:

County is eligible for Livestock Forage Program or LFP.
NRCS grazing plans are written at 50% of the normal carrying capacity.

Haying is not authorized during PNS or primary nesting season.

Ineligible acres are: SAFE or State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement acres. In Kiowa those are acres enrolled into the Lesser Prairie Chicken SAFE CRP program.

NRCS will be required to make a site visit to determine if the acres can be grazed. Acres that were grazed last year, could potentially be ineligible this year.

AT NO TIME CAN FEEDING OF BALES BE ALLOWED ON THE CRP ACRES.

ARCPLC POSTCARDS

The National FSA Office sent out postcards last week reminding producers of the 2021 ARCPLC election deadline of March 15, 2021. FSA Offices were informed on Monday morning, March 1^st that all producers with an active ARCPLC contract received a postcard, not just the producers who need to make an election for 2021 crop year. If a producer has ARCPLC farms in multiple counties; the producer will need to contact each county to determine if the ARCPLC contracts for that county are enrolled.

In Kiowa County, the office sent out postcards to producers on farms that do not have a 2021 farm election made. If there were any changes made to a producer’s farm in 2020, the farm is NOT considered valid for a multi-year enrollment any longer.

Multi – year enrollment

The multi-year enrollment was made in 2019 and when the owners made the election for 2019 and 2020 the farm could be enrolled through crop year 2023. However, if there are any changes made to the farm - such as change of operator or owner, expired CRP acres with restored base acres; the multi-year enrollment will no longer be valid. Owners will need to make an election every year through March 2023 if they wish to be enrolled into the ARCPLC program.

2021 ARCPLC ENROLLMENT

Producers who did receive a postcard from the Kiowa County FSA Office that was mailed on February 10 - those producers have farm(s) that are NOT enrolled for 2021 crop year.

To assist producers in making an election there are several different online tools available to help make that decision.

On February 16 - CSU and FSA held a joint webinar to explain the ARCPLC decision process and explain how the online tools can be of assistance. The link is https://youtu.be/UsGxcvES9AQ if you need that emailed to you contact the office.
Visit Farmers.gov website or https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/arcplc_program/index for information on
- Resources
- Program Data
and search ARCPLC decision for more information
On Farmers you will find two online tools to assist you in making your decision. Website addresses are provided below.
- https://fd-tools.ncsa.illinois.edu/
- https://www.afpc.tamu.edu/tools/farm/farmbill/2018/

Reminders

FSA Office employees only explain the programs available; it’s the producer’s responsibility to make the decision on what program to elect.

Be reminded ARC-CO and PLC elections are made by base commodity available on the farm. The election has no bearing on what crop(s) that will be planted in crop year 2021.

ARC-IC which is individual farm coverage is the only program available under ARCPLC that is contingent on what commodities are planted or will be planted. When electing ARC-IC producers are enrolling the entire farm, not the base acres on the farm.

Crop year

The office has fielded numerous questions regarding what crop year the election producers are currently making will relate to. The election is for crop year 2021 - which relates to planted wheat and crops that will be planted this spring and summer. Crop years for FSA purposes are determined as crops planted that will be harvested in calendar year 2021. Even though the wheat was planted last year; it’s a 2021 crop for FSA and RMA purposes.

2020 PLC RATES

The 2020 crop year Price Loss Coverage or PLC rates are available below. The 2020 crop year ARCPLC elections were made prior to March 15, 2020. Each commodity goes through a marketing year to determine the final PLC rate for the commodity. For producers who elected PLC for crop year 2020; below are the projected payments. Projections are issued monthly, and these are the February projections.