Farm Director, KC Sheperd, is visiting with the County Executive Director for the Jackson County Farm Service Agency about different FSA programs available to ag producers.
One deadline Josefy said producers need to be aware of is that January 17 is the final date for producers to report their small grains acreage.
Many producers are waiting until the last minute to make the best decision for use of their crop, Josefy said, which is good, but at the same time, this leads to everyone reporting their acreage all at once.
“The acreage reports are used for a variety of things,” Josefy said. “First, of all, it is really important for their crop insurance to have the same information. The acreage reports with FSA are used by RMA- their crop insurance agents- to learn and to certify the number of insurable acres they may have for grain production.”
The acreage reports are also used for a multitude of other programs within FSA, such as ARC (Agricultural Risk Coverage), PLC (Price Loss Coverage), and LFP (Livestock Forage Program).
“We must know the number of acres to apply to all the programs,” Josefy said. “The basics of all of our programs come from the actual cropland acres- the acres that producers plant.”
Josefy also explained how the PLC program works.
“The crop base acres on your farm- if you enroll in PLC on a base acre or all of the base acres on the farm, then the only limiting factor is the price,” Josefy said.
If the national average price for a crop is less than the benchmark price for the previous five years, Josefy said a price loss coverage loss has occurred, and it can be issued a payment.
The deadline to sign up for the ARC and/or PLC programs, Josefy said, is by March 15. A person signing up for ARC/PLC for 2023, he added, would not see payment until October of 2024.
Josefy also talked about programs that could benefit cattle producers.
“There are several counties, including Jackson, that are across the state, where the U.S. drought monitor has already triggered us for 2023 Livestock Forage Program,” Josefy said. “Now, it is way too early to enroll anyone into that program, we don’t have software, we don’t have the rates, we don’t have the availability for that yet, but we already know that we are going to qualify.”
Producers interested in signing up for LFP, Josefy said, should be able to do so around April or May. The last day to sign up for LFP 2022 benefits, Josefy said, is January 30.
In addition to the LFP program, Josefy said the Emergency Livestock Assistance Program provides benefits to producers who have had to go out and buy more hay, and feed than they have in years past and travel to do so.
“What ELAP does, is it can pay some benefits to those producers based upon the loaded miles from the feed to their pasture, or where they have taken their livestock from their pasture to feed,” Josefy said.
Josefy urges producers to contact their FSA office and ask questions about the different programs that may benefit their operation.
