USDA Update - July 27, 2018

USDA Service Center Staff

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

COUNTY APPROVED FOR CRP EMERGENCY HAYING AND GRAZING
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 – TBA
2018 ARCPLC Enrollment deadline - September 30, 2018 _ EXTENSION RECEIVED

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.

SERVICE CENTER COMPUTER UPGRADE

The Service Center computers will be receiving an operating system upgrade on Wednesday evening, August 1. Therefore, Thursday, August 2 there could be computer issues, we are hoping all goes well with the upgrade; but one never knows. We ask for your patience while we go through this transition.

Recently, the Service Center printers and telephones were having operating issues and it caused delays for producers getting the needed paperwork completed; those issues are fixed now. We appreciated your cooperation and patience during that time.

CRP EMERGENCY HAYING AND GRAZING AVAILABLE

NO CRP HAYING OR GRAZING REQUESTS COMPLETED AFTER 4:00 p.m.

The Service Center experienced another busy week of completing CRP grazing or haying requests. It has been decided that beginning on Monday, July 30^th, that on Monday – Friday; NO CRP grazing or haying requests will be completed after 4:00 p.m. There is too much paperwork that has to be completed by both the producer and the employee for the request before the end of the workday. Producers who do come into the office after 4:00 for CRP haying or grazing requests will be asked to return the next workday.

Again, there is NO PAYMENT REDUCTION to the CRP producer for the grazing or the haying. The only restriction is that the hay cannot be sold.

The office contacted numerous producers when the authority to graze was received, but those producers have not visited the office to complete the required paperwork. ALL PAPERWORK MUST BE COMPLETED AT NRCS AND FSA PRIOR TO ANY ACTIVITY. CRP producers who do not comply with the requirements will determined out of compliance and could face payment penalties or even termination of their contract(s).

DROUGHT MONITOR

A portion of the D4 intensity that existed in Bent, Crowley, Otero and Kiowa counties last week was downgraded to a D3 category; however portions of those counties remain in D3 and D4 status. More information is available in this article.

LFP

The FSA office remains busy completing applications for the 2018 Livestock Forage Program. Producers who own or lease eligible livestock and lease or own grass pasture are encouraged to visit or call the office to get the details on the program. Those are the two main requirements, livestock and grazing land. The deadline to apply for the 2018 LFP program is December 31, 2018.

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