Acreage Reporting Required

In order to maintain program eligibility and benefits, producers must timely file acreage reports. Failure to file an acreage report by the crop acreage reporting deadline may result in ineligibility for future program benefits.

All 2017 spring seeded crops and CRP acreage must be certified by July 17. FSA will not accept late-filed acreage reports provided more than a year after the acreage reporting deadline.

ARCPLC Enrollment for 2017

Producers on farms with base acres under the safety net programs established by the 2014 Farm Bill, known as the Agriculture Risk Coverage or Price Loss Coverage programs, can visit the Suffolk FSA office to sign contracts and enroll for the 2017 crop year. The enrollment period will continue until Aug. 1.

Since shares and ownership of a farm can change year-to-year, producers on the farm must enroll by signing a contract each program year.

If a farm is not enrolled during the 2017 enrollment period, the producers on that farm will not be eligible for financial assistance from the ARC or PLC programs for the 2017 crop should crop prices or farm revenues fall below the historical price or revenue benchmarks established by the program. Producers who made their elections in 2015 must still enroll during the 2017 enrollment period.

Secretarial Disaster Declaration – Emergency Loans Available

As a result of a Secretarial and Presidential Disaster Declaration, the City of Suffolk was declared a primary disaster due to affects of Hurricane Matthew in October 2016. Under this designation, producers with operations in any primary or contiguous county are eligible to apply for low interest Emergency Loans through Dec. 12.

Emergency loans help producers recover from production and physical losses due to drought, flooding and other natural disasters or quarantine.

Producers have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for emergency loan assistance. FSA will consider each loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability. Producers can borrow up to 100 percent of actual production or physical losses, to a maximum amount of $500,000.

For more information about emergency loans, please contact the Courtland FSA office at 653-2532 or visit www.fsa.usda.gov.

Important Dates to Remember

• June 2017 – FSA reminds all farmers and ranchers to respond to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service Cash Rents and Leases Survey. FSA and other USDA agencies rely on average cash rental rates in each county to help develop and administer Federal farm programs.The survey will be conducted online, via mail, telephone or in person. NASS will release the survey results on Sept. 8.

• July 4 – FSA Offices Closed – Independence Day observed.

• July 17 – Final crop acreage reporting date for all spring-seeded row crops, most fruit and vegetable crops, and conserving use land.

• Aug. 1 –ARCPLC enrollment ends.

• Aug. 1 – Deadline to file a reconstitution effective for 2017 crop year.