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.  
• July 15, 2025 -  Deadline for Spring Certification.  

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. 

Office staff

There have been some personnel changes here in the Eads Service Center that our customers need to keep in mind when contacting the office. 

After nearly 30 years of working here at the FSA office, Charla decided that she wasn’t going to shoot for 31 years.  She qualified for an early retirement and decided to go enjoy life.  March 6^th was her last day working here at the office.   Charla began her ASCS/FSA career in May 1995 and has been through lots of changes in the agency, the inception of our computer systems and the ever-evolving changes in technology and FSA programs.  There won’t be any more acreage reports to load, CRP payments to make, 30-day CRP signups to stress over, NAP notice of losses to keep track of, marketing loans to make, or responding to work emails or phones to answer. She is sure not going to miss getting up at the crack of dawn to head to work, her morning coffee will taste a lot better each day.  

We will miss Charla, her knowledge and her ability to plow through the work like no one else we have ever worked with.   

Join us in wishing Charla a happy, healthy and long retirement.  If you would like to send Charla a card, you can send it here to the office and we’ll make sure she receives it.  

Staying Connected 

With the office without one employee and limited staff at NRCS, it’s more important than ever for our producers to be certain to keep informed on deadlines and respond to emails.  The office just isn’t going to be able to do 2^nd or 3^rd notifications to producers.  Come April 15, 2025, if an operator hasn’t signed their ARCPLC contracts, the farm will just not be participating for 2025.  

There are many ways for our customers to receive up to date FSA and NRCS information.  Those avenues of communication are listed below.  

• Visit website www.Farmers.gov  for up-to-date information for FSA/NRCS programs. 
• Receive text messages - Text COKiowa to FSANow (372-669) to subscribe.
• Subscribe to GovDelivery emails:  Visit www.fsa.usda.gov/subscribe  or contact your local FSA Office. 
• For information on programs visit our website located at www.fsa.usda.gov or like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. USDA is an equal opportunity employer.

It is the customers responsibility to know what programs and benefits are available. 

Conduct Business Online Through the Farmers.gov Portal

Looking for ways to do business with USDA that saves you time? Look no further than farmers.gov. When you create an account for the farmers.gov authenticated customer portal, you have access to self-service features through a secure login. Managing your business with USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is faster than ever. From e-signing documents, viewing, printing, and exporting maps and receiving notifications of payment disbursements, a farmers.gov authenticated account makes doing business with USDA easy and secure. 

  What can you do with your farmers.gov account? 

• View FSA Farm Loan information including interest payments, loan advances, payment history and paid-in-full/restructured loans.
• Make USDA direct farm loan payments using the Pay My Loan feature.
• Access the Online Loan Application portal.
• View, print and export detailed FSA farm records and farm/tract maps.
• Import precision agriculture planting boundaries, create labels containing crop information, and print both on farm tract maps.
• View and print your FSA-156EZ with farm details
• View and print your Producer Farm Data Report
• View NRCS Disbursements and Farm Loans financial activity from the past 180 days.
• View your land, access NRCS data on your conservation plans, contracts, and planning land units through the Conservation Land Area page.
• View, upload, download and e-sign NRCS documents.
• Request NRCS conservation and financial assistance, including submitting a program application.
• View detailed information on all previous and ongoing NRCS contracts, including the amount of cost- share assistance received and anticipated; and even request contract modifications, report practice completion and request practice certification.
• “Switch Profiles” to act on behalf of your entity or another individual when you have active representative authority on file
• If you’d like to see the features in action and learn more about how to use them, check out the 3-5 minute farmers.gov account video tutorials.

How do you create a farmers.gov account? 

Visit farmers.gov/account to access information about farmers.gov accounts and sign in to the site’s authenticated portal. You will need a Login.gov account linked to your USDA customer record to access your farmers.gov authenticated site. Customers who are new to USDA should visit Get Started at Your USDA Service Center, then go to farmers.gov/account to create a farmers.gov account.

To create a farmers.gov account you will need: 

• A USDA individual customer record — A customer record contains information you have given to USDA to do business with them, like your name, address, phone number, and any legal representative authority relationships. Contact your local USDA Service Center to make sure you have an individual USDA customer record on file and your information is up to date.
• A Login.gov account — Login.gov is a sign-in service that gives people secure online access to participating government programs. You can create a Login.gov account linked to your customer record by following the directions on gov/account.
• Identity Verification — You can choose to verify your identity with Login.gov or in-person at a USDA Service Center.

In addition to the self-service features, farmers.gov also has information on USDA programs, farm loans, disaster assistance, conservation programs and crop insurance.