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Stearns County USDA Service Center - January 3, 2023
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Farm Service Agency | Natural Resources Conservation Service | Risk Management Agency
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Manager Comments
Steve Frericks - FSA County Executive Director
As we prepare for the new year and make our resolutions, I reflect on the excellent work of our office staff. The true hero's of our office structure is the dedicated technicians who implement the programs we administer. Our staff make the farmers and landowners of the county their primary priority. They have battled through COVID and Pandemic (drought) related program rollouts in conjunction with their normal responsibilities. We are extremely appreciative and proud of all the extra efforts provided when challenges are presented. We take the time to thank the following staff members for being rock stars day in and day out! Julie Schlangen, Lori Marthaler, Paula Eich, Holly Johnson, Jolene Leither, Jodi Brinkman, Holly Jasmer, Lisa Wilson, Dean Meyer, Katelyn Borchert and Travis Janson. - Steve & Jerry
We are HIRING!!! Is your new years resolution a new career?
The Stearns County Farm Service Agency office located in Waite Park, MN is now accepting applications for a Full-Time Program Technician position. See details in article below.
The USDA Service Center Building is under construction.
Producers will no longer be able to access the USDA Service Center from the North common entry through the atrium. Customers will need to access the suite from the south parking lot through door "C" as detailed above. The south parking lot is accessible via the passage east of Pizza Ranch. Please note that USDA also has a new conference room location adjacent to the FSA suite. We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause during the construction and relocation process.
Emergency Relief Program (ERP) Phase 2 – The ERP Phase 2 regulations have yet to be published. The USDA news release in November indicated two programs will be available. Phase 2 will include producers who suffered eligible losses but may not have received program benefits under Phase 1. To be eligible for Phase 2, producers must have suffered a loss in allowable gross revenue, as defined in forthcoming regulations, in 2020 or 2021 due to necessary expenses related to losses of eligible crops for qualifying natural disaster events. The second program will be the Pandemic Assistance Relief Program (PARP). These programs will use a combination of Schedule F information from tax years 2018-2022. Further details on both programs will be provided following publishing of the federal regulations and sign-up announcements. For now, Get your Schedule "F" documents ready.
Timely Report Ownership and Operator Changes – Producers who are buying or selling agricultural land need to notify FSA as soon as possible following transaction for timely update of FSA farm records. To report an ownership change, provide either a copy of the recorded warranty deed or a contract for deed to FSA.
If you will be renting new land, the FSA County Office will need a copy of the lease before we can add you to the farm and/or give you any information about the farms such as maps, base acres, yields, and ARCPLC Election(s). If an operator is dropping rented land, we appreciate notification of those changes also for updating of records.
Producers who have transferred their land into a trust also need to timely report this "ownership" change to the FSA County Office. To record an ownership change to a trust, the trust, grantors, or trustee(s) need to provide a copy of the recorded deed to FSA.
Ownership changes involving land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) need to be reported to the FSA County Office once the deed is recorded at the County Recorder’s office. Failure to timely report an ownership change (including land being transferred from an individual to a trust, etc.) for land enrolled in CRP could result in termination of the CRP contract and require a refund of all payments received under the applicable contract. Timely reporting of ownership changes is appreciated.
FSA is not notified by the County Recorder’s Office of these sales. In addition, notify FSA if your bank account has changed.
Jerry Hurrle - Farm Loan Manager
We hope you had time to enjoy the holidays with family and friends, and are ready to begin a new year. Time seems to pass so quickly with everyone’s busy schedules. As we start a new year, we wish everyone a successful and prosperous 2023. It is also time to finalize your records for 2022 and begin planning for 2023. Take a little time to write down your inventories, livestock numbers, and account balances. This is a good time to review how well organized and prepared your records are. Will it be easy for you to finalize your 2022 records and prepare for your income taxes, or are you searching through piles of receipts and paperwork trying to remember what all happened last year? Now is a good time to review your record keeping process and make changes or improvements, so you do not have the same frustrations next year. Good records will help you review your progress and develop plans for the new year. If you need financial assistance, we also recommend that you contact your lender or FSA as soon as possible. It is important to be prepared with up-to-date financial information when you meet with your lender.
Program Opportunities
Keep Connected with FSA: With all of the existing programs and new programs becoming available to assist you, I don’t want you to miss out on any of these deadlines. I highly encourage you to sign up for our text message alerts. FSA provides text message alerts (no more than 2 per month) for important reminders and deadlines. Don’t miss out on getting these reminders.
Let’s get you signed up right now! Take out your phone, send a message to 372-669 with MNStearns in the box of the text, and hit send. If you did these 3 easy steps you are signed up to receive text alerts. Thanks for doing this and you will receive quick reminders of important deadlines
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The Stearns County Farm Service Agency (FSA) office in Waite Park is hiring a full time, Program Technician (PT). The deadline to apply is January 17, 2023.
Duties include general office activities supporting FSA programs administered at the field level. Successful applicants must be reliable, have a professional attitude and enjoy working with the public.
If you are interested or know of someone who might be interested, please share this information with them. Here is the direct link to the position with information on how to apply: https://www.usajobs.gov
- Announcement number
FSACO-11771192-23-MN-KW
- Control number
695400700
Applications must be completed through USAJOBs no later than close of business January 17, 2023.
Contact Steve Frericks at 320-251-7800 Ext 2 if you have specific questions regarding the position. USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.
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If you are a producer or landowner who participates in USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) conservation programs, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) may be reaching out by mail with information about a form you’ll need to fill out.
Starting this year, all producers and landowners participating or applying to participate in certain NRCS conservation programs must complete form CCC-902, Farm Operating Plan. Historically, to participate in these programs, legal entities could file either the CCC-901, Member Information or the CCC-902, while individuals were not specifically required to file the CCC-902 with FSA. Now, to ensure FSA and NRCS are properly determining payment eligibility and maximum payment limitations, all customers must have a CCC-902 on file to establish eligibility.
These changes will not affect participants who already have a Form CCC-902 with a “determined” status recorded with FSA. Customers that do not have a CCC-902 on file with FSA will be sent a letter in the mail in the coming weeks with detailed information on what is needed and how to file the form. The letter requests that the form be completed within 30 days of receiving the letter.
For added convenience, USDA is offering options for remote or in-person submission of the CCC-902. Fiscal year 2021 is considered a transition year to ensure all NRCS program participants can meet this updated filing requirement. Beginning in FY 2022, if form CCC-902 is not on file your payments may be impacted.
Farmers.gov provides a secure, single desktop- and mobile device-accessible authenticated portal for FSA, NRCS and RMA customer-facing features. As we’ve continued to add more content and capabilities, farmers.gov has quickly become the premier online hub for customers to find resources, submit applications and assistance requests, and make connections.
The farmers.gov portal also enables you to:
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View, upload, download, and e-sign documents.
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Request financial assistance, including submitting a program application.
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View and submit conservation requests.
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View technical references and submit questions.
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Access information on current and past conservation practices and plans.
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Report practice completion and request practice certification.
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View detailed information on all previous and ongoing contracts.
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Have the authority as an FSA and/or NRCS customer to work in the portal and act on behalf of your active power-of-attorney entitlements and your current authorities for business entities.
You’ll also receive an email letting you know that an NRCS document needs your signature, which you can quickly and easily sign online in the portal. These conservation features join several others already available through the farmers.gov portal, including the ability to view farm loan information and farm records. Capabilities include:
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View, print and export detailed farm records such as cropland, base acres, yields, CRP acres, land ownership details, and much more;
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View, print and export farm/tract maps that can be provided to lenders, chemical or fertilizer providers, and FSA for reporting acreage and crop insurance agents; and
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Export common land unit (field) boundaries as ESRI shapefiles.
To access your information, you'll need a USDA eAuth account to login to farmers.gov. After obtaining an eAuth account, producers should visit farmers.gov and sign into the site’s authenticated portal via the Sign In/Sign Up link at the top right of the website. In addition to the self-service features available by logging into farmers.gov, the website also has ample information on USDA programs, including pandemic assistance, farm loans, disaster assistance, conservation programs and crop insurance. Recently, USDA updated the navigation and organization of the site as well as added some new webpages, including “Get Involved,” “Common Forms,” and “Translations.” Learn more about these changes.
USDA is improving two of its most comprehensive risk management safety net programs, Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) and Micro Farm, making them more accessible to America’s agricultural producers. This includes doubling the maximum insurable revenue under WFRP, now $17 million, more than tripling the size of farm operations eligible for Micro Farm, now $350,000 and reducing paperwork requirements for WFRP. These improvements are in direct response to feedback from stakeholders as USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) recognizes the important role these insurance options play for many producers, including specialty crop, organic and direct market producers.
Whole-Farm Revenue Protection
The WFRP program provides protection for all eligible commodities on a farm under one insurance policy. Now, producers can insure up to $17 million in revenue (formerly $8.5 million).
Other updates to WFRP include:
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Allowing a producer to report and self-certify yield at the beginning of the year for commodities without other insurance options in a way similar to those with individual crop policies. This will significantly reduce the amount of paperwork required to apply for WFRP.
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Eliminating expense reporting to reduce paperwork burden. In place of expense reporting, WFRP will reduce the expected revenue of commodities a producer is unable to plant to 60%, similar to prevented planting for other programs.
The Micro Farm program, offered through WFRP, provides a risk management safety net for all eligible commodities on a farm under one insurance policy, but on a smaller scale. Now, producers with farm operations up to $350,000 in approved revenue (formerly $100,000) can get coverage. RMA introduced the new Micro Farm program in 2021 to better serve direct market and small-scale producers. While the program is well received and feedback has been largely positive, industry partners and small, diversified producers have informed RMA that the current limit is too low to meet the needs of many interested producers. In response, the FCIC approved the increase in size for eligible farm operations.
The updates to WFRP and Micro Farm take effect in crop year 2023.
Crop insurance is sold and delivered solely through private crop insurance agents. A list of crop insurance agents is available at all USDA Service Centers and online at the RMA Agent Locator. Learn more about crop insurance and the modern farm safety net at rma.usda.gov.
Stearns County U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) announced that County Committee elections are over, and the ballots have been counted.
John Adolph of Kimball was elected to represent local administrative area (LAA) #1. Brad Gohman will serve as the first alternate. Thomas Donnay will serve as the second alternate.
County committee members are a critical component of the day-to-day operations of FSA. They help deliver programs at the county level and work to serve the needs of local producers. All recently elected county committee members will take office in January 2023 and will be joining the existing committee. Every FSA office is required to have a county committee, and they are made up of local farmers, ranchers and foresters who are elected by local producers.
Nearly 7,800 FSA county committee members serve FSA offices nationwide. Each committee has three to 11 elected members who serve three-year terms of office. One-third of county committee seats are up for election each year. County committee members impact the administration of FSA within a community by applying their knowledge and judgment to help FSA make important decisions on its commodity support programs, conservation programs, indemnity and disaster programs, emergency programs and eligibility.
County committee members impact producers through their decision making and help shape the culture of a local FSA office. They also ensure the fair and equitable administration of FSA farm programs in their counties and are accountable to the Secretary of Agriculture. Members conduct hearings and reviews as requested by the state committee, ensure underserved farmers, ranchers and foresters are fairly represented, make recommendations to the state committee on existing programs, monitor changes in farm programs and inform farmers of the purpose and provisions of FSA programs. They also assist with outreach and inform underserved producers such as beginning farmers, ranchers and foresters, about FSA opportunities.
For more information, visit the FSA website at fsa.usda.gov/elections or contact the Stearns County FSA office at 320-251-7800.
The Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) provides assistance to you for livestock deaths in excess of normal mortality caused by adverse weather, disease and attacks by animals reintroduced into the wild by the federal government or protected by federal law.
For disease losses, FSA county committees can accept veterinarian certifications that livestock deaths were directly related to adverse weather and unpreventable through good animal husbandry and management.
For 2022 livestock losses, you must file a notice within 30 calendar days of when the loss is first apparent. You then must provide the following supporting documentation to your local FSA office no later than 60 calendar days after the end of the calendar year in which the eligible loss condition occurred.
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Proof of death documentation
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Copy of grower’s contracts
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Proof of normal mortality documentation
USDA has established normal mortality rates for each type and weight range of eligible livestock, i.e. Adult Beef Cow = 1.5% and Non-Adult Beef Cattle (less than 250 pounds) = 5%. These established percentages reflect losses that are considered expected or typical under “normal” conditions.
In addition to filing a notice of loss, you must also submit an application for payment by March 1, 2023.
For more information, contact the Stearns County USDA Service Center at 320-251-7800 or visit fsa.usda.gov
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Stearns County USDA Service Center
110 2nd Street South
Suite 125
Waite Park, MN 56387
Phone: 320-251-7800
Fax: 855-795-8085
mnwaitepar-fsa@usda.gov
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