USDA Update - December 28, 2018

Eads USDA Service Center Staff

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

JANUARY 1- USDA Service Center closed on Tuesday - HAPPY NEW YEAR
JANUARY 8^th- FARM LOAN Personnel in Eads Service Center County Committee Meeting – TBA
JANUARY 15th– DEADLINE to apply for 2018 (LFP) Livestock Forage Program –
JANUARY 15, 2019- MFP – Market Facilitation Program– COMPLETION OF Part D of CCC-910 form signature deadline.
Continuous CRP Grassland Signup 201 –Offers being accepted - $5.00 per acre rental rate

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.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Another year has come and went, and I am sure 2019 will speed by just as quickly. The USDA Service Center staff wishes each of our customers a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

PARTIAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN - As of Friday, December 28, 2018

Monday morning, December 31, the Farm Service Agency may be affected by the Government shutdown. The Service Center was open this past week during the first week of the shutdown as both FSA and NRCS agencies were considered ‘funded’ and employees were exempt from the shutdown. However, FSA funding ended at midnight Friday, December 28, and until funding is received, FSA will remain closed.

Kiowa County NRCS office is in a unique position with Marvin and Marty retiring, their last day of working is December 31. Wednesday, January 2 the entire USDA Service Center will be closed as NRCS will NOT have a full-time employee and FSA will not have funding if an agreement is not reached before that day.

Signs will be posted on the doors and there will be an updated recording on the telephone. The news media is the best source for updates on the shutdown as to when the offices will be open.

SECOND MFP PAYMENT

Again, producers who had received the first payment on half their production, received the second payment this past week. Those payments were issued on Wednesday, December 26^thand WILL be considered 2018 income on producer’s 1099 that will be sent in January. The FSA office had NO option in delaying these payments and realize that for some it may have tax implications.

Kiowa County FSA Committee

Destiny Haase - LAA 2 – Central area – Committee Chairperson
Sean Harkness – LAA 1 – East area – Committee Vice-Chairperson
Michael Zimmerman – LAA3 – West area – Committee Regular Member

USDA SERVICE CENTER CONTACT INFORMATION

Telephone 719-438-5851 FSA (Ext 2), NRCS (Ext 3). FSA Fax number: fax2mail 844-332-7501

E-mail individuals firstname.lastname@co.usda.gov (Example firstname.lastname@co.usda.gov, dawna. weirich, charla. ferris, hallie.barlow, scott.smith@co.usda.gov