USDA Update - July 14, 2018

Eads USDA Service Center Staff

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

· COUNTY APPROVED FOR CRP EMERGENCY HAYING AND GRAZING

· County Committee Nomination Deadline - August 1^st

· Apply for Livestock Forage Program - Call office for appointment.

· FARM LOAN Personnel in Kiowa County Service Center – Tuesday, September 11^th

· FSA County Committee Meeting – July 26, 2018

· 2018 ARCPLC Enrollment deadline - August 1, 2018

· Continuous CRP Grassland Signup 201 - Currently no deadline, applications are being accepted

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.

KIOWA COUNTY APPROVED – CRP EMERGENCY HAYING AND GRAZING

The FSA Office received notification last week the county was approved for CRP Emergency Haying and Grazing due to the extreme drought conditions. CRP contracts that have been deemed to have an established permanent cover by FSA or NRCS for at least one year are eligible. The following area counties were approved for Emergency Haying and/or Grazing beginning Monday, July 16.

County	Request that is approved
KIOWA	Emergency Haying and Grazing
Baca	Emergency Haying and Grazing
Bent	Emergency Haying and Grazing
Cheyenne	Emergency Haying and Grazing
Lincoln	Emergency Haying and Grazing
Otero/Crowley	Emergency Grazing – NO HAYING
Prowers	Emergency Haying and Grazing

PRODUCERS MUST COMPLETE REQUIRED PAPERWORK @ FSA and NRCS OFFICES, PRIOR TO ANY ACTIVITY ON CRP ACREAGE.

CRP producers who own livestock must complete the required paperwork at NRCS and FSA prior to any activity on the CRP contract. CRP participants who donotown or lease livestock, may allow another eligible livestock producer to hay or graze the acreage.

Before any grazing or haying can occur, the required forms must be completed and returned to the FSA and NRCS offices.

CRP PRODUCERS

ALL producers on the contract must sign the terms and conditions for Emer. Haying and grazing @ FSA and must sign the Conservation Plan of Operations Modification.
At least one CRP participant must sign the haying or grazing plan developed @ NRCS.

LIVESTOCK PRODUCERS

Sign a statement @ FSA stating the CRP acreage will NOT be sub-leased.
Sign the grazing or haying plan @ NRCS.

The grazing or haying can begin once the CRP producer(s) receives written approval from FSA. CRP participants who hay or graze CRP acreage without approval, or fail to follow these provisions, will be subject to the noncompliance provisions.

REMINDER- CRP contract participants are RESPONSIBLE to ensure the contract(s) remains in compliance.

NO PAYMENT REDUCTION

CRP producers will NOT be assessed a payment reduction for Emergency Haying or Grazing. The 2014 Farm Bill changed the payment reduction language for Emergency Haying or Grazing. The NO payment reduction also applies to CRP producers who MUST complete a required contract management activity prior to September 30. The 25% payment reductions will be assessed to producers who grazed CRP contract(s) during the first grazing period, October 1^stto November 30^thfor contract management purposes. If the acreage was grazed for only 30 days during first grazing season; the acreage could be eligible for another 30 days of grazing without an additional payment reduction. However, NRCS must determine that these contracts can be grazed again.

DATES FOR GRAZING AND HAYING

Emergency Grazing ends on September 30. NRCS will be writing a recommended grazing plan for the livestock producer and the CRP producer, most of the plans will not allow grazing until September 30^th.

Emergency Haying ends on August 31^stand the hay must be removed from the acreage by September 30^th. CRP producers who allow their acreage to be hayed; will be held responsible for any damage to the acreage.

LESSOR PRAIRIE CHICKEN (LPC) CONTRACTS

For this year only, counties with SAFE Lessor Prairie Chicken contracts are approved for Emergency grazing if the acreage is located in CHAT (crucial habitat assessment tool) areas 3 and 4. Contracts located in CHAT areas 1 and 2 are NOT allowed to be grazed. NRCS and FSA have maps available to determine the location of the CHAT areas for the contract.

CRP REQUIRED CONTRACT MANAGEMENT

With the end of the nesting season, producers with contracts that MUST complete a REQUIRED contract management before September 30th will be limited on the activity that can occur on the acreage to meet the 100% acreage treatment requirement.

The only options available for these contracts are

Harrowing
Grazing

CRP producers who must meet this September deadline have received numerous notifications and WILL NOT be receiving another notification. Producers who fail to ensure the required management is completed, will be deemed out of compliance.

Harrowing can be completed any time before September 30^thand prior approval is NOT required. However, for grazing the required paperwork at FSA and NRCS MUST be completed prior to any grazing occurring.

DROUGHT MONITOR & LFP

Big changes on the Drought Monitor this week. Portions of Kiowa, Bent, Otero, Crowley, Pueblo and Las Animas counties moved to a D4 – exceptional drought. More details are available in this article.

For livestock producers located in these counties who have applied for the (LFP) Livestock Forage Program will earn 5 months (maximum allowed) of payment. The computer software will generate the one-month payment to producers who have previously been paid for 4 months. Producers who have not been paid will be paid for all 5 months.

Producers who lease or own livestock and native grass have until the end of December to apply for the 2018 Livestock Forage Program.

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, marvin.watson, marlin.miller