Notes From Nicki
Yet another day of unseasonably pleasant temperatures today. Seeing tractors in the field on Wednesday doing fall tillage caught me by surprise! The snow in the forecast for tomorrow reminds us it is December in Minnesota. With the end of the year approaching, I know a lot of producers are working on taxes and planning for 2024. Please take a few minutes to review the information in this bulletin and see how our services and programs could benefit your farming operation in the coming year.
Marketing Assistance Loans: If you are interested in obtaining a Marketing Assistance Loan (MAL) on your 2023 crop disbursed either in December or after the first of the year, and haven't already begun the process, call our office as soon as possible. We want to make sure your loan is processed timely; we will work on processing as much of the loan as we can by phone and/or email to expedite the process. If you currently have a loan on some, or all, of your 2023 crop, please be checking your bins. Extreme temperatures can lead to spoilage occurring in some cases. As always, if you have an outstanding commodity loan remember to "call before you haul" to avoid violations.
Wool Loan Deficiency Payments (LDP): Please remember to contact this office to make sure you have page 1 of the CCC-633EZ submitted before you lose interest in the wool. For wool, these forms are tied to the calendar year, so if you plan on shearing after the 1st of the year, make sure you have submitted a 2024 CCC-633EZ, Page 1, to avoid losing out on potential wool LDPs.
Livestock Forage Program (LFP): Faribault County reached D3 drought on September 12, 2023, opening up the LFP program. If you have grazing livestock, contact the FSA office to learn more about this important disaster program: LFP fact sheet. The deadline to apply for LFP assistance is January 30, 2024.
Farm Storage Facility Loan: It is not too early to begin thinking about next year's crop. During harvest, did it seem like there were additions or improvements that would make your storage and handling more efficient? Could you use a truck, grain cart, auger, or another piece of equipment to meet your handling needs? Do you need additional storage? Are interest rates at your local lender holding you back from making that purchase? If so, we encourage you to check into our FSFL program to help:
- Acquire new or used storage and handling trucks;
- Acquire portable or permanently affixed storage and handling equipment; and/or
- Acquire new storage facilities.
A variety of structures, handling equipment, and trucks are eligible under FSFL, including new & used dryers, augers, trucks, semi tractors, grain trailers (hopper, live bottom, end dump), baggers, bale wrappers, grain carts, forklifts and skid steers, bulk tanks, propane tanks, hay barns, facilities for cold storage, storage, drying, & handling facilities, and many more options: FSFL Fact Sheet. Contact our office early in your planning process to determine what level of environmental review is required for your program application so it can be completed timely.
Conservation Projects and CRP Maintenance: Now is the time to be planning. Are you doing a dormant seeding? Are you planning to seed in the spring? Do you want to complete your management activity by hiring someone to mow or burn your CRP? Each of these activities takes time to plan. Starting early is encouraged, as vendors book up quickly. If you have questions or need technical assistance, please contact our office. FSA, NRCS, and SWCD employees are here to assist. Fact Sheet: Conservation Programs at a Glance.
Producer Ownership, Bank or Operating Changes: Report farm operational changes, banking changes, or addition or reduction of acreages timely to our office. When changes in farm ownership or increase or decrease of rental acreage occurs, a farm reconstitution may be necessary. The reconstitution, or recon, is the process of combining or dividing farms or tracts of land based on the 2024 farming operation. Reporting now will allow us to complete the record update prior to 2024 ARCPLC enrollment. See what information we currently have on file for you by creating a farmers.gov account: Fact Sheet for Farm Records on Farmers.gov.
We look forward to sharing more information regarding all our various FSA programs and assisting you with filing your applications. We hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday and enjoys a Happy New Year!
~ Nicki, Karen, Ashley, Claire, and Cassie
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Access local data to assist with your farming operation including weather forecasts and up-to-date commodity pricing
Farmers in Minnesota can now access county specific farming data and USDA resources all in one place via the new farmers.gov local dashboard. Your new farmers.gov local dashboard includes farming data and USDA resources including USDA news, commodity pricing, weather forecasts, historical climate data, past storm events, USDA service center locator and additional state resources for Minnesota and your county The dashboard transforms complex data sets into easy-to-read charts and graphs to help you quickly find information that matters to you.
Farmers.gov gives you one place to do business with USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), including accessing your farm records, maps, and common land units. You can create a farmers.gov account for the farmers.gov authenticated site, where you can access self-service features through a secure login.
In addition to the self-service features farmers.gov website also has information on USDA programs, farm loans, disaster assistance, conservation programs and crop insurance.
What can you do with your farmers.gov account?
- View FSA Farm loans including loan information, interest payments, loan advance and payment history, paid-in-full restructured loans, and account alerts.
- View NRCS Disbursements and Farm Loans financial activity from the past 180 days.
- View, print and export detailed farm records and farm/tract maps.
- Export common land unit (field) boundaries as ESRI and GeoJSON file types.
- Import precision agriculture planting boundaries, create labels containing crop information, and print both on farm tract maps.
- Use the draw tools to determine acres in an area of interest that can be printed on a map and provided to a third party or exported as a feature file for use in other geospatial applications.
- View, upload, download and e-sign NRCS documents.
- Request conservation and financial assistance, including submitting a program application.
- Access information on current and past conservation practices, report practice completion and request practice certification
- View detailed information on previous and ongoing contracts, including the amount of cost- share assistance received and request contract modifications.
How to create a farmers.gov account?
To create a farmers.gov account you will need:
- A USDA individual customer record - A customer record contains information you have given to USDA to do business with them, like your name, address, phone number, and any legal representative authority relationships.
- A login.gov account – Login.gov is a sign-in service that gives people secure online access to participating government programs.
The Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) Farm Storage Facility Loan (FSFL) program provides low-interest financing to help you build or upgrade storage facilities and to purchase portable (new or used) structures, equipment and storage and handling trucks.
Eligible commodities include corn, grain sorghum, rice, soybeans, oats, peanuts, wheat, barley, minor oilseeds harvested as whole grain, pulse crops (lentils, chickpeas and dry peas), hay, honey, renewable biomass, fruits, nuts and vegetables for cold storage facilities, floriculture, hops, maple sap, rye, milk, cheese, butter, yogurt, meat and poultry (unprocessed), eggs, and aquaculture (excluding systems that maintain live animals through uptake and discharge of water). Qualified facilities include grain bins, hay barns and cold storage facilities for eligible commodities.
Loans up to $50,000 can be secured by a promissory note/security agreement, loans between $50,000 and $100,000 may require additional security, and loans exceeding $100,000 require additional security.
You do not need to demonstrate the lack of commercial credit availability to apply. The loans are designed to assist a diverse range of farming operations, including small and mid-sized businesses, new farmers, operations supplying local food and farmers markets, non-traditional farm products, and underserved producers.
For more information, contact your Faribault County USDA Service Center at 507-526-3282 or visit fsa.usda.gov/pricesupport.
Navigating filing taxes can be challenging, especially if you are new to running a farm business, participating in disaster programs for first time, or trying to forecast the farm’s tax bill. Receiving funds from USDA through activities such as a conservation program payment or a disaster program is considered farm income that includes a tax liability for farm businesses. USDA technical assistance is free and creates no tax implications.
At the end of the tax year, USDA issues tax forms 1098 and 1099 forms for farm loans, conservation programs administered by the Farm Service Agency and Natural Resource Conservation Service including the Conservation Reserve Program and Environmental Quality Incentives Program, crop disaster payments, and the Market Facilitation Program. USDA also issues tax forms for recipients of assistance for distressed borrowers, including through Section 22006 of the Inflation Reduction Act.
If you have received tax forms related to your operation, USDA cannot and does not provide tax advice but wants you to be aware of options that may help manage your tax liability. USDA has partnered with experts to provide resources to help you make the right tax decisions for your operation. Monthly webinars are available for registration and to view on demand at https://www.farmers.gov/working-with-us/taxes.
The Tax Estimator Tool is an interactive spreadsheet that producers can download to estimate tax liability. It is for informational and educational purposes and should not considered tax or legal advice. Producers may need to work with a tax professional to determine the correct information to be entered in the Tax Estimator Tool.
We encourage you to visit https://www.farmers.gov/working-with-us/taxes for more information on how to find and work with a tax preparer as well as instructions on how to request copies of USDA documents and links to other helpful tax resources.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has developed a simplified direct loan application to provide improved customer experience for producers applying for loans from the Farm Service Agency (FSA). The simplified direct loan application enables producers to complete a more streamlined application, reduced from 29 to 13 pages. Producers will also have the option to complete an electronic fillable form or prepare a traditional, paper application for submission to their local FSA farm loan office. The paper and electronic versions of the form are now available.
Approximately 26,000 producers submit a direct loan application to the FSA annually, but there is a high rate of incomplete or withdrawn applications, due in part to a challenging and lengthy paper-based application process. Coupled with the Loan Assistance Tool released in October 2022, the simplified application will provide all loan applicants access to information regarding the application process and assist them with gathering the correct documents before they begin the process. This new application will help farmers and ranchers submit complete loan applications and reduce the number of incomplete, rejected, or withdrawn applications.
In October 2022, USDA launched the Loan Assistance Tool, an online step-by-step guide that provides materials to help an applicant prepare their farm 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. The tool is built to run on any modern browser like Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or the Safari browser. A version compatible with mobile devices is expected to be available by the summer. It does not work in Internet Explorer.
The simplified direct loan application and Loan Assistance Tool are the first of multiple farm loan process improvements that will be available to USDA customers on farmers.gov in the future. Other improvements that are anticipated to launch in 2023 include:
- 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.
USDA provides access to credit to approximately 115,000 producers who cannot obtain sufficient commercial credit through direct and guaranteed farm loans. With the funds and direction Congress provided in Section 22006 of the Inflation Reduction Act, USDA took action in October 2022 to provide relief to qualifying distressed borrowers while working on making transformational changes to loan servicing so that borrowers are provided the flexibility and opportunities needed to address the inherent risks and unpredictability associated with agricultural operations.
Soon, all direct loan borrowers will receive a letter from USDA describing the circumstances under which additional payments will be made to distressed borrowers and how they can work with their FSA local office to discuss these options. Producers can explore all available options on all FSA loan options at fsa.usda.gov or by contacting their local USDA Service Center.
 Good Idea Shop Talks
This free meet-up series is for row crop and livestock producers who want to exchange ideas and advice for troubleshooting on-farm challenges related to improving soil and water resources. It will help producers connect with and learn from each other about how to be good stewards while protecting their profitability. Our first season of these weekly, virtual meet-ups will take place on Thursdays, January 18th and 25th, and February 1st at 11:30am CT / 12:30 ET. Learn more and register here: https://goodideafarm.org/shop-talks/
Good Idea Mini-Grants
We invite pairs of producers and farm advisors to submit proposals to implement a low-cost edge-of-field conservation practice on the producer’s operation and create a video or podcast about what they did and learned to be shared with other producers via One Good Idea. Awards are up to $8,000. The application deadline is January 15th, 2024. Learn more and apply here: https://www.reach.msstate.edu/grant-application.php.
Important Dates and Deadlines
December 25 - USDA Service Center closed in observance of Christmas Day Holiday
December 31 - Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) closing deadline for honey and maple sap for crop year 2024
January 1 - USDA Service Center closed in observance of New Year’s Day Holiday
January 2 - Deadline for annual certification of honeybee colonies for Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) and Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP) eligibility
January 15 - USDA Service Center closed in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr's Birthday Holiday
January 17 - Deadline for annual certification of apples
January 30 - Deadline to submit Livestock Forage Program (LFP) Application for Payment for 2023 losses
January 31 - Deadline to request Marketing Assistance Loan (MAL) for prior year harvested wool, mohair and Loan Deficiency Payment (LDP) for unshorn pelts
Farm Loan Program Interest Rates
5.750% - Farm Operating Loans, Direct
5.875% - Farm Ownership Loans, Direct
3.875% - Farm Ownership, Joint Financing
1.875% - Farm Ownership Loans, Beginning Farmer Down Payment
Farm Storage Facility Loan Program Interest Rates
4.750% - Farm Storage Facility Loans, 3-Year
4.625% - Farm Storage Facility Loans, 5-Year
4.625% - Farm Storage Facility Loans, 7-Year
4.625% - Farm Storage Facility Loans, 10-Year
4.750% - Farm Storage Facility Loans, 12-Year
December 2023 Commodity Loan Interest Rates
6.375% - Commodity Loans
FARIBAULT COUNTY COMMODITY LOAN RATES for 2023 CROP
Corn $2.08/bu
Soybeans $6.14/bu
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