USDA and FSA have made several important program announcements in recent weeks. The Discrimination Financial Assistance program authorized by Section 22007 of the Inflation Reduction Act provides financial assistance to farmers, ranchers and forest landowners who experience discrimination in USDA farm lending programs. Program details including an application and e-filing portal are available at 22007apply.gov. Applicants can also contact the call center at 800-721-0970 or visit one of several dozen offices the program has set up around the country. The closest offices to Delaware are in Bethesda, MD and on the eastern shore in Brandywine, MD. Locations are provided on the program website. This is not a first-come, first-served program. All applications received before the October 31 deadline will be considered.
As you begin harvesting corn and soybeans, your local FSA offices are preparing for the October payment cycle. CRP and CREP payments, as well as ARC/PLC payments (if triggered) will be issued in October. Delaware has 6088 acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program. The majority is in the “Enhancement” program (CREP), where FSA and the State of Delaware have partnered to offer additional incentives to improve water quality and wildlife habitat.
This is an incredibly busy time of year. Make time to take care of yourself and practice farm safety.
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WASHINGTON, Aug. 24, 2023 – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Acting Under Secretary Roger Glendenning today announced that USDA is making more funding available for meat and poultry processors to expand operations, transform the food supply chain and create new and better markets for producers.
This funding advances President Biden’s commitment to grow the economy from the bottom up and middle out by creating good-paying jobs and opportunities in every community.
“The Biden-Harris Administration and USDA are committed to transforming our food system to one that creates new markets for our small and mid-sized farming and ranching operations while protecting opportunity in our rural communities for generations to come,” Glendenning said. “The funding we’re making available today to meat and poultry processors will not only give producers more options, but also create good paying jobs and build greater resilience in our overall food system.”
To learn more, read full News Release.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) launched a new online tool to help farmers and ranchers better navigate the farm loan application process. This uniform application process will help to ensure all farm loan applicants receive equal support and have a consistent customer experience with USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) regardless of their individual circumstances.
USDA experiences a high rate of incomplete or withdrawn applications, particularly among underserved customers, due in part to a challenging and lengthy paper-based application process. The Loan Assistance Tool is available 24/7 and gives customers an online step-by-step guide that supplements the support they receive when working in person with a USDA employee, providing materials that may help an applicant prepare their loan application in one tool.
Farmers can access the Loan Assistance Tool by visiting farmers.gov/farm-loan-assistance-tool and clicking the ‘Get Started’ button. From here they can follow the prompts to complete the Eligibility Self-Assessment and start the farm loan journey. The tool is built to run on any modern browser like Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or the Safari browser, and is fully functional on mobile devices. It does not work in Internet Explorer.
The Loan Assistance Tool is the first of multiple farm loan process improvements that will be available to USDA customers on farmers.gov in the future. Other improvements and tools that are anticipated to launch in 2023 include:
- A streamlined and simplified direct loan application, reduced from 29 pages to 13 pages.
- An interactive online direct loan application that gives customers a paperless and electronic signature option, along with the ability to attach supporting documents such as tax returns.
- An online direct loan repayment feature that relieves borrowers from the necessity of calling, mailing, or visiting a local Service Center to pay a loan installment.
In order to claim a Farm Service Agency (FSA) payment on behalf of a deceased producer, all program conditions for the payment must have been met before the applicable producer’s date of death.
If a producer earned a FSA payment prior to his or her death, the following is the order of precedence for the representatives of the producer:
- administrator or executor of the estate
- the surviving spouse
- surviving sons and daughters, including adopted children
- surviving father and mother
- surviving brothers and sisters
- heirs of the deceased person who would be entitled to payment according to the State law
For FSA to release the payment, the legal representative of the deceased producer must file a form FSA-325 to claim the payment for themselves or an estate. The county office will verify that the application, contract, loan agreement, or other similar form requesting payment issuance, was signed by the applicable deadline by the deceased or a person legally authorized to act on their behalf at that time of application.
If the application, contract or loan agreement form was signed by someone other than the deceased participant, FSA will determine whether the person submitting the form has the legal authority to submit the form.
Payments will be issued to the respective representative’s name using the deceased program participant’s tax identification number. Payments made to representatives are subject to offset regulations for debts owed by the deceased.
FSA is not responsible for advising persons in obtaining legal advice on how to obtain program benefits that may be due to a participant who has died, disappeared or who has been declared incompetent.
In this Ask the Expert, Toni Williams answers questions about how Farm Storage Facility Loans (FSFLs) provide low-interest financing to help producers build or upgrade commodity storage facilities. Toni is the Agricultural Program Manager for FSFLs at the Farm Service Agency (FSA).
Toni has worked for FSA for more than 32 years and is responsible for providing national policy and guidance for Farm Storage Facility Loans.
What are Farm Storage Facility Loans?
Farm Storage Facility Loans provide low-interest financing for eligible producers to build or upgrade facilities to store commodities.
The FSFL program was created in May 2000 to address an existing grain shortage. Historically, FSFLs benefitted grain farmers, but a change in the 2008 Farm Bill extended the program to fruit and vegetable producers for cold storage. An additional change extended the program to washing and packing sheds, where fresh produce is washed, sorted, graded, labeled, boxed up, and stored before it heads to market. Since May 2000, FSA has made more than 40,000 loans for on-farm storage.
Eligible facility types include grain bins, hay barns, bulk tanks, and facilities for cold storage. Drying and handling and storage equipment including storage and handling trucks are also eligible. Eligible facilities and equipment may be new or used, permanently affixed or portable.
To read the full blog visit farmers.gov/blog/ask-the-expert-qa-on-farm-storage-facility-loans-with-toni-williams. farmers.gov/blog/ask-the-expert-qa-on-farm-storage-facility-loans-with-toni-williams.
Farm Service Agency (FSA) program payments are issued electronically into your bank account. In order to receive timely payments, you need to notify your FSA servicing office if you close your account or if your bank information is changed for any reason (such as your financial institution merging or being purchased). Payments can be delayed if FSA is not notified of changes to account and bank routing numbers.
For some programs, payments are not made until the following year. For example, payments for crop year 2019 through the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage program aren’t paid until 2020. If the bank account was closed due to the death of an individual or dissolution of an entity or partnership before the payment was issued, please notify your local FSA office as soon as possible to claim your payment.
All Delaware FSA offices will be closed these dates:
Monday, October 9, 2023 = Columbus Day
Friday, November 10, 2023 = Veterans Day
Thursday, November 23, 2023 = Thanksgiving Day
| May 15 |
Peas and potato reporting deadline to FSA |
| July 15 |
Spring planted crop reporting deadline to FSA |
| August 15 |
FCIC processing beans crop reporting deadline to FSA |
| October 6 |
Emergency loan application deadline |
| **Any crops planted after the deadline have 15 calendar days from the day of planting to report to the county office. |
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