IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

• April 15, 2025 – ARCPLC Deadline - Operators who have not made an election and not signed their contracts please do not wait until the last day.  
• March 15th – July 15 -  CRP primary nesting season.  No activity is allowed on CRP contracts, except for Grassland contracts. No break-outs of expired CRP lands.  
• July 15, 2025 - Deadline for Spring Certification.  
• August 15, 2025 - Deadline to submit E-CAP application.

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. 

ARC-PLC DEADLINE

Thursday, April 15 is the deadline for 2025 election and enrollment of eligible farms.   It’s also the deadline that producers need to have all signatures need to be returned.    In Kiowa County, there have been many contracts that have been emailed out.  Producers need to be checking their email accounts regularly for emails from one of the staff or from Box/OneSpan for digital signatures.  Offices are extremely busy right now and some are very short staffed.  We need producers to do their part on expediting the paperwork.  Producers who are interested in granting an operator power of attorney valid for FSA, NRCS and RMA paperwork are urged to contact the office. 

Break-out

Producers who have expired CRP and have obtained authorization to from NRCS to destroy the cover CANNOT do so during the primary nesting season. 

E-CAP - Emergency Commodity Assistance Program  

The E-CAP program was authorized by Congress in the American Relief Act, 2025 and provides economic assistance payments to eligible agricultural commodity producers for the 2024 crop year.  

Eligible acreage 

• Acreage reported as intended for harvest, haying, grazing, silage or other similar intended use is eligible.  Multi-intended use of one crop is not eligible.  FSA will determine the eligible acres.
• 50% of the acreage on the farm reported as prevented from being planted.  NOTE:  If the cause of loss was drought, the county must have been in a prolonged D3 or D4 drought intensity designation on the U.S. Drought Monitor. 
• In cases where an initial eligible commodity failed or was prevented from being planted and the producer planted a subsequent eligible commodity for the 2024 crop year, eligible acreage is limited to the initial crop.  
• Acreage that has been reported with both an initial commodity and a double crop commodity will be eligible for payment on both plantings if in an FSA approved double cropping combination.  
• Acreage that has been reported with both an insured initial small grain crop that was intentionally destroyed before harvest by grazing or other means and is timely reported to the producer’s crop insurance provider and is then followed with a subsequent eligible commodity that is not an approved double crop scenario, is eligible for payment on both plantings of eligible commodities.

Producer eligibility 

• Eligible producers must meet the following requirements:
• Be actively engaged in farming.  That determination comes from the County Committee after the form CCC-902 is filed in the producer’s recording county. 
• Have an interest in input expenses for a covered commodity.  
• Have reported acreage of eligible commodities to FSA for the 2024 crop year using an FSA-578, Report of Acreage form.   
• Have reported acres that were prevented from being planted to FSA for the 2024 crop year on an FSA-576. 

Applying for E-CAP 

• Producers can contact their FSA recording county for an application to be supplied 
• Email, 
• Box/OneSpan digital services 
• in person
• Fax  

The application will reflect the producers share of acres as reported on the FSA-578 for all states and counties the producer has a crop share interest.  

Eligibility Forms Required

Producers must have the following forms on file for the 2024 crop year:

• CCC-901 for entities. 
• CCC-902 farm operating plan
• AD-1026, Highly erodible land conservation certification

Payment rates

Producer payments are computed based on specific commodity rates (per acre)

• Wheat - $30.69
• Sorghum - $42.52
• Corn - $42.91
• Sunflower – $27.23

There are additional commodity prices and those can be found at Farmers.gov website.  Payments are computed as follows: 

Acres x rate x 85% = initial issued payment. 

If there is money left over after the all payments have been issued after the August deadline and if additional funds are available from the original obligated amount an additional payment could be issued.  

Producers who have questions regarding E-CAP program are urged to contact the local FSA office.