USDA Update - June 8, 2018

Eads USDA Service Center Staff

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

· PRIMARY NESTING SEASON - March 15^th- July 15 - NO CRP Contract Management ALLOWED

· FARM LOAN Personnel in Kiowa County Service Center – Tuesday, July 10^th

· FSA County Committee Meeting – TBA

CRP Continuous Signup - CRP Grassland OFFERS ONLY. Producers interested are urged to contact FSA Office. NOW!!- File form CCC-633 EZ page 1 with FSA before losing beneficial interest to maintain Loan Deficiency Payment (LDP) eligibility. (To request payments, producers need to submit page 2 of the CCC-633EZ)
2018 SPRING ACREAGE REPORTING DEADLINE - July 15^th

· 2018 ARCPLC Enrollment deadline - August 1, 2018

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.

LIVESTOCK FORAGE PROGRAM - KIOWA COUNTY ELIGIBLE

The Drought intensity factor of D3 has triggered the (LFP) Livestock Forage Program for livestock producers in Kiowa County. Currently, eligible producers are eligible for a 3 month payment.

The FSA Office will be scheduling appointments for producers to apply for the program. Producers need to call the office @ 719-438-5851 and schedule an appointment. Producers will be required to provide the following on the date of their appointment.

Proof of ownership or lease of eligible current inventory livestock.
Receipts of livestock purchases. Livestock purchased after March 22^ndwill not be considered eligible livestock for the program. Livestock must have been owned or leased 60 days before the beginning date the qualifying drought, for Kiowa County that date is May 22^nd.
Grazing leases (if office does not have on file).

For more information concerning LFP, please contact the FSA Office. The deadline to signup will be Monday, December 31, 2018.

DROUGHT MONITOR

The U.S. Drought Monitor placed a large portion of county into a D3 – Extreme drought category on June 6th. The northern edge of the county remains in a D2 category – Severe Drought. More details are available in this article.

CRP GRASSLANDS SIGNUP 201 – BEGINS JUNE 4

This past week the FSA Office received the updated information pertaining to the CRP Grasslands Program. Letters were mailed out to producers who had previously submitted Grassland offers under Signup #200 stating that their pending offer would not be processed and they would have to reapply under Signup #201. One problem that did occur with that mailing was that producers with current active CRP Grassland contracts were sent the same letter. FSA is reassuring those producers their contracts are still active and no changes will occur on those contracts. FSA apologies for the error and any confusion caused by the error.

In Kiowa County, the rental rate per acre for Signup #200 was $15.00 - for Signup #201 the rental rate per acre will now be $6.00.

Brief description of changes to the Grassland ranking factors

F1: Current and Future Use - Maximum 30 points.

F1A - 50% of acreage expiring CRP – 20 points
F1B - offer eligible for Small Scale Livestock Operation - 10 points

F2: Beginning, Underserved, or Veteran Farmers or Ranchers
- Maximum Points decreased from 20 to 10 points
F3: Maximizing Grassland Preservation

Maximum Points of 20 still the same

F4: Vegetation Cover
- CP88 and/or CP88A, Permanent Native Grasses, Forbs, or Legumes
- Monoculture Stand: stayed the same with 10 points
- Existing stand (minimum of 2 species) of at least 2 native grass species: increased from 10 to 20 points
  - Existing stand minimum of 5 species of at least 3 native grasses: increased from 20 to 30 points
F5: Environmental Factors

Maximum points decreased from 20 to 10 points

· F6: Removed Pollinator Factor and replaced with Cost Factors

Maximum points for Cost factor is 25
1. F6a: if the maximum CRP Grassland rental rate for a county is $15 or less the offer will get 15 points

EXPIRING CONTRACTS OFFERED ONE – YEAR EXTENSION

CRP contracts that will be expiring on September 30, 2018 will be afforded a one-year extension on the contract. In Kiowa County there is only one contract that will be afforded the extension. The majority of Kiowa County CRP contracts will begin to expire in September 2020 through 2022.

CONTINUOUS CRP SIGNUP – 51 BEGINS JUNE 4^th

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