|
Subscribe to the New Jersey Farm Service Agency Calendar to receive USDA program deadlines and related information automatically on the calendar app on your device.
To subscribe just scan the QR code above or click here.
There is no cost to subscribe and you can unsubscribe at anytime.
In This Issue:
Agricultural producers in New Jersey should complete their crop acreage reports after planting and should make appointments with their Farm Service Agency (FSA) office before the applicable deadline.
We encourage producers to report farms as they are planted and avoid waiting until the deadline.
An acreage report documents a crop grown on a farm or ranch and its intended uses. Filing an accurate and timely acreage report for all crops and land uses, including failed acreage and prevented planted acreage, can prevent the loss of benefits.
Deadlines - The following acreage reporting dates remain in New Jersey for 2024:
-
July 15 - corn, soybeans, spring feed grains, forage, CRP, hemp & most other crops
-
August 15 - processing beans
Exceptions - The following exceptions apply to acreage reporting dates:
- If the crop has not been planted by the acreage reporting date, then the acreage must be reported no later than 15 calendar days after planting is completed.
- If a producer acquires additional acreage after the acreage reporting date, then the acreage must be reported no later than 30 calendar days after purchase or acquiring the lease. Appropriate documentation must be provided to the county office.
-
Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) policy holders should note that the acreage reporting date for NAP-covered crops is the earlier of the dates listed above or 15 calendar days before grazing or harvesting of the crop begins
Information you'll need - To file a crop acreage report, you will need to provide:
- Crop and crop type or variety.
- Intended use of the crop.
- Number of acres of the crop.
- Map with approximate boundaries for the crop.
- Planting date(s).
- Planting pattern, when applicable.
- Producer shares.
- Irrigation practice(s).
- Acreage prevented from planting, when applicable.
- Other information as required
Producers should also report crop acreage they intended to plant, but due to natural disaster, were unable to plant. Prevented planting acreage must be reported on form CCC-576, Notice of Loss, no later than 15 calendar days after the final planting date as established by FSA and USDA’s Risk Management Agency.
Each year, the New Jersey State Committee reviews and approves or disapproves county committee recommended changes or additions to specific combinations of crops.
Double-cropping is approved when two specific crops have the capability to be planted and carried to maturity for the intended use, as reported by the producer, on the same acreage within a crop year under normal growing conditions. The specific combination of crops recommended by the county committee must be approved by the state committee.
Double-cropping is approved in New Jersey on a county-by-county basis. Click here for a list of approved double-cropping combinations for your county.
A crop following a cover crop terminated according to termination guidelines is approved double cropping and these combinations do not have to be approved by the state committee.
More Information
For questions, please contact your local FSA office. To locate your local FSA office visit farmers.gov/service-center-locator.
|
The deadline to apply for crop insurance or NAP coverage for 2025 nursery is May 1, 2024
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has expanded its Nursery Value Select (NVS) crop insurance program to all counties in all states. This expansion is part of USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) efforts to provide insurance options for a broader group of producers, including specialty crop producers. The RMA is encouraging interested nursery producers to learn more about the program through upcoming informational workshops. These sessions will be valuable for producers in the newly expanded areas and especially for the Nursery Field Grown and Container (FG&C) crop insurance program, which ends beginning with the 2026 crop year.
There are three Nursery Value Select workshops - two on April 18 and one on
July 18. See more details here.
NVS provides similar but improved coverage to the longstanding Nursery Field Grown and Container (FG&C) program. NVS also covers field grown and containerized nursery plants and offers coverage levels between catastrophic and 75 percent.
Prior to this expansion, NVS was only available in select counties in these states: Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington. Beginning with the 2025 crop year, NVS will now be available in all counties in all states. The sales closing date for the 2025 crop year is May 1, 2024, or September 1, 2024, as provided in the actuarial documents.
NVS was first available in the 2021 crop year, and producers insured more than $460 million in liabilities 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 or by contacting your RMA Regional Office.
Farmers in New Jersey can now access county specific farming data and USDA resources all in one place via the new farmers.gov local dashboard. Your 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 New Jersey 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.
New Jersey State and County Profiles are now available. USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released the profiles Mar. 27, 2024. Information in the profiles includes farms and farmland, value of sales, producer demographics, top crops, internet access and more from every state and county in the nation.
“Thank you to all who helped with the Census of Agriculture and help with other USDA-NASS surveys. Thank you for helping to show the importance of New Jersey agriculture,” said Bruce Eklund, state statistician of the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, New Jersey Field Office. Your contribution is used by federal agencies, state government, NGOs, and universities to help advocate for and fund programs that benefit the agricultural community.”
NASS released the much-anticipated ag census at nass.usda.gov/AgCensus and in Quick Stats on Feb. 13, 2024. Ag census data spans millions of data points about America’s farms and ranches and the people who operate them. The once-every-five-years Census of Agriculture remains the only source of uniform, comprehensive, and impartial agriculture data down to the county level. Follow @usda_nass for the latest data highlights and news updates.
New Jersey State Level Data:
https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2022/Full_Report/Volume_1,_Chapter_1_State_Level/New_Jersey/
County Level Data:
https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2022/Full_Report/Volume_1,_Chapter_2_County_Level/New_Jersey/
|
If you’re interested in starting a career with USDA, subscribe to receive free email alerts on select positions within the USDA Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Risk Management Agency and Farm Production and Conservation Business Center.
All federal job vacancies within USDA are posted on usajobs.gov. In order to further promote employment opportunities, we are going to start sending emails that highlight select positions.
If you want to keep up with vacancy announcements via email, you can subscribe to “Careers” by visiting farmers.gov/subscribe and completing the following steps.
- Select “email” as your subscription type
- Enter your email address
- Click “submit”
- Select the “Careers” topic under “Connect with us”
- Click “submit” to verify your subscription topic choice at the bottom of the page
Not all job vacancy announcements will be shared via email, but you can view a current list of all job openings at any time by visiting usajobs.gov.
For additional information or assistance with your subscription, contact your local USDA Service Center by visiting farmers.gov/service-center-locator.
USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.
|
 |
As of Wednesday, February 28th, dairy producers will be able to enroll for 2024 Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC), an important safety net program offered through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that provides producers with price support to help offset milk and feed price differences. This year’s DMC signup begins Feb. 28, 2024, and ends April 29, 2024. For those who sign up for 2024 DMC coverage, payments may begin as soon as March 4, 2024, for any payments that triggered in January 2024.
Read more here: https://www.fsa.usda.gov/state-offices/New-Jersey/news-releases/2024/dairy-producers-can-enroll-for-2024-dairy-margin-coverage-beginning-feb.-28-
The New Jersey Department of Agriculture (NJDA) requests applications for the funding available through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Marketing Service’s (AMS) Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP), and the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021 (H.R. 133) to carry out projects that enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops [1].
The purpose of this Request for Proposals (RFP) is to build upon the SCBGP’s mission to enhance New Jersey’s specialty crop industry through our community of underserved farmers, including those who are Socially Disadvantaged, Beginning or Military Veteran farmers of Specialty Crops in the state of New Jersey.
This program is available to qualified businesses and producers, as well as nonprofit and community-based organizations who seek to develop projects that will increase production, marketing, and research of specialty crops.
To be eligible for a grant, applicants must identify as members of at least one (1) of the following groups, as defined in section 1.4.2 of the FY21 USDA SCBGP RFA:
- Beginning Farmer;
- Socially Disadvantaged Farmer;
- Veteran Farmer; and/or
Examples of projects include:
- Researching new cultivars
- Providing outreach opportunities on specialty crops to youth, families, seniors, and the overall community
- Marketing specialty crops through a targeted promotional campaign
Activities or tasks that could be a part of such projects might include:
- Hiring personnel
- Purchasing special purpose equipment
- Holding an educational workshop
- Planting specialty crops
- Distributing product promotional materials
The NJDA requests that all interested and eligible organizations representing New Jersey’s underserved specialty crop industry submit project proposals via email to NJDA.grants@ag.nj.gov for consideration for this funding on or before Friday, May 3rd, at 5:00 PM EST. Any applications received after this deadline will not be considered.
Funding for projects up to $5,000 will be available to selected and approved applicants after July 1, 2024.
All applications must abide by the guidelines set by the FY21 USDA-AMS Specialty Crop Block Grant program, and the USDA-AMS General Terms and Conditions. For program information, go to the NJDA’s “Underserved Farmers Mini-Grant” webpage.
Please see the enclosed application information and PDF application form. Organizations are required to use the attached template form to apply for funding. To open the form, please save the PDF to your computer and open the file with Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat (TIP: right click on the file, and select Open With -> Adobe Reader/Acrobat).
Once you submit an application, you should receive a confirmation of receipt via e-mail within 24 hours. If you do not receive that confirmation, please call or e-mail me. Please feel free to forward this application to other appropriate parties as needed.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email NJDA.grants@ag.nj.gov.
[1] For the purpose of this grant program, “specialty crops” are defined as: vegetables and fruits, including grapes for wine, nuts, horticultural products including Christmas trees, honey, herbs, potatoes, sweet corn, and other specialty crops, including algae. Agricultural commodities which are NOT eligible for these grant funds include, but are not limited to: feed crops, food grains, seafood, livestock, dairy, and poultry products, including eggs, range grasses, and oilseed crops.
|
 |
The U. S Department of Agriculture (USDA) will provide more than $3 billion to commodity and specialty crop producers impacted by natural disaster events in 2022. Eligible impacted producers can apply for financial assistance through the Emergency Relief Program (ERP) 2022. The program will help offset the financial impacts of crop yield and value losses from qualifying disasters occurring in 2022.
ERP 2022 covers losses to crops, trees, bushes and vines due to qualifying, calendar year 2022 natural disaster events including wildfires, hurricanes, floods, derechos, excessive heat, tornadoes, winter storms, freeze (including a polar vortex), smoke exposure, excessive moisture, qualifying drought and related conditions.
Read more here: https://www.fsa.usda.gov/state-offices/New-Jersey/news-releases/2023/usda-to-provide-more-than-3-billion-to-commodity-and-specialty-crop-producers-impacted-by-2022-natural-disasters-
More Information
ERP 2022 eligibility details and payment calculation factor tables are available on the emergency relief website, in the ERP Track 1 and ERP Track 2 fact sheets and through your local FSA county office.
|
