USDA Update

By Rod Johnson

June 20, 2003

Be sure the records in the FSA Office accurately reflect current farm ownership and operatorship. We periodically have problems with program signup when land has been changed, trusts have been formed or persons are shown as sharing in the crop on FSA records differently than what is actually being done. These problems can result in payment reductions or total loss of eligibility for various programs. In worst case scenarios such as "scheme or device" determinations to evade payment limitations, program ineligibility may be for more than one year.

To process the crop disaster payments for everyone as soon as possible, we are going to print out the 2002 crop year applications for all operators and mail them out with instructions on how to complete the cropping information. In most cases, we will already have the acreage and production information from Federal Crop records or Farm Service Agency NAP records so cropping information is all we should need. We are waiting for additional computer downloads of crop prices and yields before we can run applications for all crops. Currently we only have the wheat yield. Also, the computer will not give us an entitlement report that shows the amount of payment. We selected the 2002 crop year since we feel this will be the greatest loss year for most producers. Each producer must select either the 2001 or 2002 crop year for all crops on all farms in a county. If the operator feels the 2001 crop year losses are similar or greater than the 2002 crop year, we will process the 2001 crop year application when you visit the office. The computer will automatically determine which will be the most beneficial year to use for total payments on all farms. If you want us to calculate the 2001 crop year disaster payments for comparison, you will need to bring cropping information for each crop on each unit for which you had a loss in 2001 when you visit the office. After we have the operator's cropping information we can complete the owner's application. This is going to be a time consuming process so please help us by accurately completing your applications before coming to the office.

USDA has announced signup for the new Grasslands Reserve Program (GRP) will begin June 30, 2003. Like most other programs, sign-up is announced before the county offices have the necessary information to process your request. NRCS & FSA Offices are scheduled to have a telephone conference on July 9 to get information on details of the program. The GRP offers producers several enrollment options: permanent easements, 30-year easements, rental agreements (10, 15, 20, or 30-year duration) and restoration agreements. For permanent easements, USDA makes a payment based on the fair market value of the property less the grazing value. For 30-year easements, USDA pays 30 percent of what would be paid for a permanent easement. For rental agreements, USDA pays 75 percent of the grazing value in annual payments for the length of the agreement.. For restoration agreements, USDA pays up to 90 percent of the restoration costs on grassland and shrubland that has never been cultivated and not more than 75% on restored grassland and shrubland (land that once was cultivated)

The Colorado State FSA Committee has disapproved Kiowa County’s request to begin emergency grazing of CRP acreage. The request was denied since not all of Kiowa County is currently in a D3 Extreme drought category. There is a possibility that there will be an emergency designation approved by the Secretary of Agriculture and emergency grazing of CRP may again be requested by the County Committee but due to the timing, it may be just as easy to wait for the managed haying and grazing provisions to take effect July 15. The State Technical Committee is currently establishing the requirements for managed haying and grazing. Continue to watch this column for details.