IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

• 2018 WHIP+ deadline - October 30, 2020
• CRP EMERGENCY GRAZING and HAYING – 30-DAY NO GRAZING HAS BEEN WAIVED FOR 2020.  FSA OFFICES CAN ACCEPT NEW REQUESTS FOR HAYING AND GRAZING UNTIL DECEMBER 31, 2020
• CFAP2 SIGNUP - DEADLINE DECEMBER 11, 2020 – Call and schedule your appointment. 
• 2021 NAP GRASS APPLICATION DEADLINE - December 1, 2020
• 2021 ARCPLC signup – begins October 13 - ends March 15, 2021

• LFP – Signup ends January 30, 2021

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. 

2018 WHIP+ DEADLINE

The office received notification last week that USDA has established an application deadline of October 30, 2020 for 2018 WHIP+ for excessive moisture and drought losses.  The office has received numerous phone calls regarding the program and producer eligibility.  Kiowa County FSA has placed the producers with 2018 crop interest on a register. which will allow producers to sign the applications past the October 30, 2020 deadline.  

However, we want to remind producers that the 2018 WHIP+ program producer eligibility is based on administrative FSA county not FSA recording county.  

Example:  Producer Bob has 2018 FSA interests in both Kiowa and Pueblo Colorado counties.  Producer Bob must contact both the Kiowa and Pueblo county offices to apply.  

We encourage all producers to view the information regarding WHIP+ program and all other FSA programs on www.Farmers.gov.  There is a complete listing of counties which are eligible for 2018 WHIP + for excessive moisture and drought and also 2019 crop year for excessive moisture.  Currently, Kiowa County is only eligible for 2018 WHIP+ due to the drought.  

CFAP 2 

In visiting with producers, I’m not sure FSA is reaching the producers we need to or possibly the producers aren’t understanding that the CFAP 2 program IS NOT similar and not a continuation of the original CFAP program.  

The CFAP 2 program is a completely different program.  There are five separate parts of the CFAP 2 application; which is the AD-3117 form.   

1. Dairy Production - Total production between April 1 and August 31
2. Eggs/Broilers Production - 2019 total production of broilers, dried, frozen, liquid or shell eggs. 
3. Livestock Inventory – Cattle, hogs, sheep - excluding breeding stock - highest number between April 16, and August 31, 2020.
4. Sale Commodities -  For a complete list of eligible commodities including different kinds of livestock visit www.Farmers.gov/cfap2 or contact the office for a complete listing. 
5. Acreage based Crops - This is based on the producer’s share of crop year 2020 planted crop acreage (prevent plant ineligible), The minimum payment will be $15.00 per acre. 

The deadline to complete an application for CFAP 2 is December 11.   Producers will complete one application in their designated recording county FSA Office.   

The information below gives producers a better idea of what is eligible for each category.  If producers have questions regarding eligible producer or commodity - contact your local office. 

• Livestock Inventory 
  • Breeding stock for hogs, cattle and sheep are INELIGIBLE for CFAP 2. Definition from CFAP handbook - breeding stock is defined as the following and therefore NOT ELIGIBLE:  

Cattle - cows and bulls 

Pigs – boars and sows

Lambs - rams and ewes 

• SALES COMMODITIES - CFAP 2 provides producers of eligible sales commodities on -  
  • Aquaculture, including mollusks
  • Crops not identified as price trigger or flat rate - there is a long list, contact the office for more information. 
  • Nursery and/or floriculture crops
  • Specifically defined miscellaneous crops
  • Specifically identified livestock, not including breeding stock.  This includes goats and other livestock, again contact the office for more information.  
  • INELIGIBLE commodities - all breeding stock, equine, companion or comfort animals/pets, commodities produced by contract growers, and livestock raised for hunting or game purposes are ineligible for CFAP 2. 

Producers of eligible sales commodities must certify their 2019 sales for qualifying commodities.  The sales must    be determined reasonable by the County Committee.  Eligible sales include only sales of raw commodities grown       by the producer.  Any portion of the sales derived from adding value to the commodity, such as processing and     packaging, and sales of products purchased for resale must not be included in the amount of sales.  

Producers who began farming a category of sales commodity in 2020 and had no 2019 sales will self-certify their    actual 2020 sales, at the time of application, in lieu of 2019 sales.  The 2020 sales must be determined reasonable           by the County Committee.

For a listing of sales commodities - visit Farmers.gov/cfap2 website.  Any questions please contact the office

• Acreage based crops 
  • all classes of wheat - for CFAP, only production of 2019 durum wheat was eligible, with CFAP 2 planted acres for 2020 for all classes of wheat are eligible.  
  • Prevented planted acres are not eligible on any 2020 crop. 
  • Price Trigger Commodities - the acre and yield information will automatically autofill from FSA’s database which will make submitting a completed signed application not possible.
  • Flat rate crops - crops that either do not meet the 5% price decline trigger or do not have data available to calculate a price change.  There are a number of crops eligible for the $15.00 an acre flat rate payment; however I’m only going to list the crops that would be planted in this area, alfalfa, hemp, millet and triticale.  For a complete listing of crops and more information on all FSA programs visit www.farmers.gov website.

2021 ARCPLC ENROLLMENT 

REMINDER:  Crop year 2021 through 2023 - elections can be changed each year. 

Enrollment for the 2021 ARCPLC program began October 13 and will end on March 15, 2021.  Producers with farm operator, ownership changes effective for 2021 will be required to complete a 2021 ARCPLC enrollment.  Producers who also wish to change the election on existing farms have the same deadline.  Beginning in 2021, election changes can be done yearly through 2023, that was a change in the 2018 Farm Bill.

Most offices have done a bulk rollover of the 2020 approved contracts -  therefore if producers wish to stay with the program election that was valid for 2021 -  there is nothing the producer will need to do as long as there is no changes to the farm for crop year 2021. The contract will be reflected in the 2021 crop year software as approved.   

I know I stated last week that there would be an update on ARC-CO verses PLC for 2021, that didn’t happen.