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How fast time flies...........We just finished up crop certification and I was encouraging you all to enjoy your summer and now we are about to turn the calendar to September and the thoughts of Fall quickly follow. As September nears I wanted to be sure and spread the news of the upcoming Crop & Conservation Field Day coming to Defiance County's Evergreen Lane Office Complex (06879 Evansport Road) presented by OSU Extension and Defiance County Soil and Water Conservation District. This event takes place on Wednesday, September 7, from 2:00pm - 8:00pm. Defiance SWCD and OSU Extension will have General and Breakout sessions during this time and will offer a free meal for those in attendance. You can register at GO.OSU.EDU/ACREFARM or to find out more information you can call the Defiance SWCD office at 419-782-1794.
One other item of note here at the Defiance FSA, Ethan Hearne has taken a job with our Farm Loan Program side. So you will still see Ethan's smiling face in the office but he will be at a different desk and will no longer be a go to for many of you and your Farm Program questions. Ethan started his duties with Farm Loan on August 1 and we wish him all the best and we are glad he is still here in the office with us everyday. We did find out we will be able fill that now vacant position. The process is starting with seeing if any Program Technicians already employed at other county offices wish to transfer to the Defiance County office. That deadline for this first effort is this Wednesday, August 24. If no one from within wishes to transfer their job duties here then we will start the hiring process through USAJobs soon. I will try to keep you updated as to where we are in that process as you go forward.
Please know we are here for you with any questions or concerns on FSA programs. Our office hours are 8:00am to 4:30pm, Monday - Friday.
Stay safe and enjoy every day to it's fullest!
Are you a military veteran interested in farming? USDA offers resources to help you:
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Fund Your Operation: USDA’s Farm Service Agency offers a variety of funding opportunities to help agricultural producers finance their businesses. Certain funds are targeted for veterans and beginning farmers and ranchers.
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Conserve Natural Resources: USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service offers conservation programs and expert one-on-one technical assistance to strengthen agricultural operations now and into the future. Veterans may be eligible for a cost share of up to 90 percent and advance payments of up to 50 percent to cover certain conservation practices.
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Manage Risks: USDA is here to help you prepare for and recover from the unexpected. Veterans who are beginning farmers may be eligible for reduced premiums, application fee waivers, increased insurance coverage, and other incentives for multiple USDA programs that support risk management.
USDA wants to ensure that veterans transitioning to agriculture have the resources needed to succeed. To conduct business, please contact your local USDA Service Center.
Our office would like to remind our conservation participants, that once you have successfully completed your CRP practice and gathered all bills, receipts, and seed tags to submit these to FSA for cost share reimbursement. Make sure there is an itemized bill for all components listed on your CRP Conservation Plan. If any of the work was done by yourself, include a bill for work completed, time to complete, and cost.
Participants are advised that starting or installing a practice before approval of the CRP contract is at your own risk. Cost share may be ineligible if the offer is not accepted or if the practice does not meet specifications in the approved Conservation Plan.
Please be advised that this is a cost share payment program. As a participant, you are willing to share in the expense of improving and conserving natural resources on your land. As such, you may have out of pocket expenses.
For more information or if you have any questions about cost share reimbursements, please call our office.
Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) participants are responsible for ensuring adequate, approved vegetative and practice cover is maintained to control erosion throughout the life of the contract after the practice has been established. Participants must also control undesirable vegetation, weeds (including noxious weeds), insects and rodents that may pose a threat to existing cover or adversely impact other landowners in the area.
All CRP maintenance activities, such as mowing, burning, disking and spraying, must be conducted outside the primary nesting or brood rearing season for wildlife, which for Ohio is March 1 through July 15. However, spot treatment of the acreage may be allowed during the primary nesting or brood rearing season if, left untreated, the weeds, insects or undesirable species would adversely impact the approved cover. In this instance, spot treatment is limited to the affected areas in the field and requires County Committee approval prior to beginning the spot treatment. The County Committee will consult with NRCS to determine if such activities are needed to maintain the approved cover.
Annual mowing of CRP for generic weed control, or for cosmetic purposes, is prohibited at all times.
Producers who have solar panels constructed on their farms should notify the local Farm Service Agency office. Any area that is no longer considered suitable as cropland (producing annual or perennial crops) should be designated in FSA’s records and aerial photography maps. When base acres on a farm are converted to a non-agricultural commercial or industrial use, the total base acres on the farm must be reduced accordingly. Non-cropland areas used for solar panels might impact payments calculated using base acres, such as Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) and Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) annual rental payments.
The USDA Ohio Farm Service Agency (FSA) is seeking qualified individuals with knowledge of field crops and specialty crops who are interested in becoming independent crop loss adjustment contractors for FSA.
FSA administers the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) which provides financial assistance to eligible producers affected by drought, flood, hurricane, or other natural disasters.
FSA utilizes contracted crop loss adjusters when eligible producers experience crop losses and planting prevented by disasters. Contracted crop loss adjusters will be responsible for completing field inspections, reading maps and aerial photos, measuring fields and assessing damage or loss. The crop loss adjuster will perform fact-finding duties (regarding crop damage), record information and transmit loss information to accurately assess indemnity.
Interested individuals should submit a resume and a brief written summary of their agricultural background and mail the information to the address listed below. Packages must be received by close of business on September 2, 2022.
Ohio FSA State Office Attn: Christina Piper 200 North High Street, Room 540 Columbus, Ohio 43215
NOTE: Selected individuals must have their own transportation and be willing to travel anywhere in Ohio to work crop loss claims. Travel expenses are reimbursable. Further training will be provided to crop loss adjusters once contractor selections are made.
View the detailed job description link for more information about the independent crop loss adjustment contractor position.
For more information or questions about the independent crop loss adjustment contractor position, contact Christina Piper at the Ohio Farm Service Agency State Office at 614-255-2445.
If you received a payment under the Wildfires and Hurricanes Indemnity Program+ (WHIP+) or the Quality Loss Adjustment Program (QLA) for crop production and/or quality losses occurring in 2018, 2019, or 2020 crop years, you are required to meet linkage requirements by obtaining federal crop insurance or Non-Insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) coverage at the 60/100 level, or higher, for both the 2022 and 2023 crop years.
When applying for WHIP+ or QLA, form FSA-895 (Crop Insurance and/or NAP Coverage Agreement) was submitted acknowledging the requirement to obtain federal crop insurance, if available, or NAP coverage if federal crop insurance is not available. The coverage requirement is applicable to the physical location county of the crop that received WHIP+ and/or QLA benefits.
Producers should not delay contacting their federal crop insurance agent or local county FSA Office to inquire about coverage options, as failure to obtain the applicable coverage by the sales/application closing date will result in the required refund of WHIP+ benefits received on the applicable crop, plus interest. You can determine if crops are eligible for federal crop insurance or NAP by visiting the RMA website.
For more information, contact your Defiance County USDA Service Center at 419-782-4781 or visit fsa.usda.gov.
Do you have loans through USDA? If so, you can login to view loan information, history and payments through farmers.gov, USDA’s self-service website available to agricultural producers.
Using a desktop, tablet, or phone, the “My Financial Information” feature enables you to view:
- loan information;
- interest payments for the current calendar year (including year-to-date interest paid for the past five years);
- loan advance and payment history;
- paid-in-full and restructured loans; and
- account alerts giving borrowers important notifications regarding their loans.
Currently, access is only available for customers doing business as individuals. Entities, such as an LLC or Trust, can’t access the portal at this time, but access is being planned.
Users are recommended to use Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge.
In this Ask the Expert, Gwen Uecker answers a few questions about USDA’s farmers.gov customer portal. Gwen serves as the Team Lead for the Program Delivery Division (PDD), Common Processes Branch for the Deputy Administrator of Farm Program within Farm Service Agency (FSA). She helps lead PDD’s effort to provide personalized customer information via farmers.gov.
A farmers.gov account provides self-service opportunities to FSA and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) customers via a secure authenticated access process.
What is the value of Customer Farm Records Mapping and why should producers use farmers.gov?
Customer Farm Records Mapping (cFRM) provides you with self-help options and access to FSA data from home 24/7. For example, you do not have to wait for FSA to mail out maps for acreage reporting or make a special trip to the office to pick up your maps. You can print farm tract maps directly from farmers.gov.
New features include the ability to import precision agriculture planting boundaries and create labels containing crop information that can be printed on-farm tract maps. The maps can then be provided to FSA at the local USDA Service Center for completing the annual crop acreage report. You can use the draw tools to determine acres in a drawn area. The drawn area can be printed on a map and provided to the Service Center, a third party such as a chemical applicator, or exported as a feature file for use in other geospatial applications.
In addition, you can “Switch Profile” to view cFRM data for individuals or entities you are authorized to act on behalf of. This means you can view and print maps for your entity’s farms. Producers can also view and print farm records details, including base and yield information (FSA-156EZ).
The FSA Farm Records Mapping page is accessed by clicking the blue “View Farm Records” button from the farmers.gov LAND tab.
To read the full blog visit Ask the Expert: Customer Farm Records Mapping Q&A with Gwen Uecker | Farmers.gov
Aug. 31 --- Deadline to obtain NAP coverage for Aquaculture, Christmas trees, Floriculture, Ginseng, Mushrooms, Turf grass Sod and Watercress.
Sept. 5 ---- Labor Day Holiday. USDA Service Center is Closed.
Sept. 30 -- Deadline to obtain 2022 NAP coverage for Winter Wheat, Rye, Barley and Speltz.
Oct. 10 --- Columbus Day Holiday. FSA Offices Closed.
Oct. 31 --- FSA deadline for applications to the Organic Certification Cost Share Program and the Organic and Transitional Education Certification Program.
Ongoing
ERP Phase 1: Deadline TBA: The deadline for producers to return the pre-filled applications for Phase One of the Emergency Relief Program (ERP) has been extended. A new deadline will be announced after the last Phase One applications are mailed and provide at least 30 days following the mailing.
Reports of Failed Acreage must be filed with the County Office before disposition of the crop.
Reports of Prevented Planting Acreage must be filed with the County Office no later than 15 calendar days after the final planting date for that county and producers of hand-harvested crops and certain perishable crops must notify FSA within 72 hours of when a loss becomes apparent.
Contact FSA right away for notice of loss deadlines and disaster program requirements.
New applications for Farm Service Agency Loan Programs.
Inform the office of bank account changes.
Inform the office if you have picked up or dropped any farm(s).
Inform the office of farm and cropland boundary changes.
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