Harney/Grant County Executive Director Reminders
Producers who participate in the Non-Insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) need to remember to have all livestock removed from hay ground by May 1st, if you are not harvesting, or set up sample areas that are 3.5 ft. x 3.5 ft. Please call the office to find out how many sample areas are required for your field(s).
Appraisals for NAP will begin on July 1st. If you are needing an appraisal please contact the office to file a Notice of Loss and get on our appraisal list.
Important Dates:
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May 1, 2021 - All livestock must have been removed from hay ground if requesting an appraisal for NAP
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May 1, 2021 - Harney County qualified for 2021 LFP
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May 31, 2021 - USDA Service Centers will be closed for Memorial Day
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July 1, 2021 - Final appraisals for NAP will begin
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July 15, 2021 - 2021 Acreage Reporting Deadline
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July 21, 2021 - COC Meeting @ Harney County Service Center
*Please note that our phones have been down in the Service Center in Hines this week. We are working with IT to get this issue solved. We apologize for the inconvenience. The office is staffed Monday - Friday from 8am - 4:30pm.
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NAP provides financial assistance to you for crops that aren’t eligible for crop insurance to protect against lower yields or crops unable to be planted due to natural disasters including freeze, hail, excessive moisture, excessive wind or hurricanes, flood, excessive heat and qualifying drought (includes native grass for grazing), among others.
To receive payment, you had to purchase NAP coverage for 2021 crops and file a notice of loss the earlier of 15 days of the occurrence of the disaster or when losses become apparent or 15 days of the final harvest date.
For hand-harvested crops and certain perishable crops, you must notify FSA within 72 hours of when a loss becomes apparent.
Eligible crops must be commercially produced agricultural commodities for which crop insurance is not available, including perennial grass forage and grazing crops, fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, floriculture, ornamental nursery, aquaculture, turf grass, ginseng, honey, syrup, bioenergy, and industrial crops.
For more information on NAP, contact your Harney-Grant County USDA Service Center at 541-573-6446 ext. 2 or visit
fsa.usda.gov/nap.
Producers in Harney County are eligible to apply for 2021 Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) benefits on native and improved pasture.
LFP provides compensation if you suffer grazing losses for covered livestock due to drought on privately owned or cash leased land or fire on federally managed land.
County committees can only accept LFP applications after notification is received by the National Office of qualifying drought or if a federal agency prohibits producers from grazing normal permitted livestock on federally managed lands due to qualifying fire. You must complete a CCC-853 and the required supporting documentation no later than January 31, 2022, for 2021 losses.
For additional Information about LFP, including eligible livestock and fire criteria, contact your Harney-Grant County USDA Service Center at 541-573-6446 ext. 2 or visit fsa.usda.gov.
If you’ve incurred additional operating costs for transporting water to livestock due to an eligible drought, assistance may be available to you through the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP).
An eligible drought means that part or all of your county is designated D3 (extreme drought) or higher as indicated by the U.S. Drought Monitor. Harney County is currently in a D3 drought designation.
Eligible livestock must be adult or non-adult dairy cattle, beef cattle, buffalo and beefalo, as well as alpacas, deer, elk, emus, equine, goats, llamas, reindeer, or sheep. Additionally, the livestock must have been owned 60 calendar days prior to the beginning of the drought and be physically located in the county designated as a disaster area due to drought. Adequate livestock watering systems or facilities must have existed before the drought occurred and producers are only eligible if they do not normally transport water to the livestock.
Livestock that were or would have been in a feedlot are not eligible for transporting water. ELAP covers the additional cost of transporting water and does not cover the cost of the water itself.
You must file a notice of loss on form CCC-851 the earlier of 30 calendar days of when the loss is apparent to you or by Jan. 31, 2022. Additionally, the deadline to submit an application for payment for 2020 ELAP assistance is Jan. 31, 2022.
You’ll have to provide documentation to FSA that shows the method used to transport the water, the number of gallons of water transported and the number of eligible livestock to which water was transported.
To make an appointment to sign up for ELAP and to learn more about eligibility, application and documentation requirements, contact your Harney-Grant County USDA Service Center at 541-573-6446 ext. 2 or visit fsa.usda.gov.
Harney and Grant County were declared a primary/contiguous disaster due to drought and heat using the streamlined Secretarial Disaster Designation process. Under this designation, producers with operations in any primary or contiguous county are eligible to apply for low interest emergency loans.
The streamlined disaster designation process issues a drought disaster declaration when a county has experienced a drought intensity value of at least a D2 (severe drought) level for eight consecutive weeks based on the U.S. Drought Monitor during the crop year.
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, contact your USDA Service Center, for Harney County producers should contact Patty Modey at 541-573-6446 ext. 2 and Grant County producers should contact Dyann Brosnan at 541-523-7121 ext. 2 or visit fsa.usda.gov.
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