Happy March! The month of daffodils, jonquils, and the vernal equinox as well as March’s promise for longer and warmer days ahead.
It’s been a busy month! At the beginning of March, I attended a round table at the USDA Eastern Regional Research Center in Wyndmoor, PA with USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics (REE), Sanah Baig. The event which was held on National Biobased Products Day and International Women’s Day, spotlighted USDA’s research, biobased innovations, and inspiring women scientists who are changing the world. I was impressed by the incredible work that our USDA scientists are doing every day for agriculture. Breaking glass ceilings, USDA women scientists have overcome many challenges to achieve their important scientific research and goals. The diversity of work that USDA accomplishes every day to support the agricultural community is astounding! To find out more about REE, and a program of REE - the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) which provides research grants to producers - visit here.
This month we provided continuing education for our employees and County Committees before the busy season of crop reporting is upon us. Making sure that our employees have the skills they need to navigate federal employment is key to a confident, successful, and happy workforce. And therefore, working smarter for you and our agricultural community. We are constantly seeking ways to improve the work we do with the vision and guidance that the Biden Administration and Secretary Vilsack provide to us. We are truly the People’s Department, and our employees are dedicated to serving Pennsylvania’s producers. USDA is transforming America’s food system by focusing on more resilient local, regional food production and fairer markets for all producers. Ensuring access to safe, healthy, and nutritious food in all communities. Building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers all while using climate smart food and forestry practices. Making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural and urban America. Finally, by committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America.
I was talking to a livestock farmer in Western PA, and he was telling me that the lack of snowfall this winter has the potential to adversely impact his grazing lands. He’s worried. I want to remind Pennsylvania producers of the help that FSA can provide when there is adverse weather and conditions. We have several programs at FSA that help when the weather turns bad. The Emergency Livestock Assistance Program (ELAP) covers weather related grazing losses and honeybee feed, colony, and hive losses. The Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) provides assistance to you for livestock deaths in excess of normal mortality caused by eligible adverse weather conditions. Tree Assistance Program (TAP) provides financial assistance to eligible orchardists and nursery tree growers to replant or rehabilitate eligible trees, bushes, and vines lost by natural disasters. Know that there are options available to help you when things outside of your control happen. Visit or call your local FSA office and let them know the impact the weather has had on your farm, your crops, and your livestock. Our staff is here to help you get through it and help you succeed.
Another great program for producers to consider right now is FSA’s Farm Storage Facility Loans (FSFL). FSFL provide low-interest financing for producers to store, handle and/or transport eligible commodities they produce. You may be thinking about updating your equipment, purchasing apple storage bins, starting a hydroponic or mushroom operation, purchasing bins and dryers for your commodities, or even equipment that you need to move your products or commodities. Reach out to your county office and see what is eligible that can benefit your operation. As a lender of first opportunity, our programs offer opportunities for farmers and ranchers to start, improve, expand, transition, market and strengthen family farming and ranching operations.
Check out the other articles in this newsletter to equip you with great information about other programs. As the year progresses, more programs will become available!
From my farm gate to yours-
Heidi Secord
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Dairy producers are 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.
USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) has revised the regulations for DMC to allow eligible dairy operations to make a one-time adjustment to established production history. This adjustment will be accomplished by combining previously established supplemental production history with DMC production history for those dairy operations that participated in Supplemental Dairy Margin Coverage during a prior coverage year. DMC has also been authorized through calendar year 2024. Congress passed a 2018 Farm Bill extension requiring these regulatory changes to the program.
DMC is a voluntary risk management program that offers protection to dairy producers when the difference between the all-milk price and the average feed price (the margin) falls below a certain dollar amount selected by the producer. In 2023, Dairy Margin Coverage payments triggered in 11 months including two months, June and July, where the margin fell below the catastrophic level of $4.00 per hundredweight, a first for Dairy Margin Coverage or its predecessor Margin Protection Program.
2024 DMC Coverage and Premium Fees
FSA has revised DMC regulations to extend coverage for calendar year 2024, which is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2024, and to provide an adjustment to the production history for dairy operations with less than 5 million pounds of production. In previous years, smaller dairy operations could establish a supplemental production history and receive Supplemental Dairy Margin Coverage. For 2024, dairy producers can establish one adjusted base production history through DMC for each participating dairy operation to better reflect the operation’s current production.
For 2024 DMC enrollment, dairy operations that established supplemental production history through Supplemental Dairy Margin Coverage for coverage years 2021 through 2023, will combine the supplemental production history with established production history for one adjusted base production history.
For dairy operations enrolled in 2023 DMC under a multi-year lock-in contract, lock-in eligibility will be extended until Dec. 31, 2024. In addition, dairy operations enrolled in multi-year lock-in contracts are eligible for the discounted DMC premium rate during the 2024 coverage year. To confirm 2024 DMC lock-in coverage or opt out in favor of an annual contract for 2024, dairy operations having lock-in contracts must enroll during the 2024 DMC enrollment period.
DMC offers different levels of coverage, even an option that is free to producers, minus a $100 administrative fee. The administrative fee is waived for dairy producers who are considered limited resource, beginning, socially disadvantaged or a military veteran. To determine the appropriate level of DMC coverage for a specific dairy operation, producers can use the online dairy decision tool.
DMC Payments
DMC payments are calculated using updated feed and premium hay costs, making the program more reflective of actual dairy producer expenses. These updated feed calculations use 100% premium alfalfa hay.
More Information
USDA also offers other risk management tools for dairy producers, including the Dairy Revenue Protection (DRP) plan that protects against a decline in milk revenue (yield and price) and the Livestock Gross Margin (LGM) plan, which provides protection against the loss of the market value of milk minus the feed costs. Both DRP and LGM livestock insurance policies are offered through the Risk Management Agency. Producers should contact their local crop insurance agent for more information.
For more information on DMC, visit the DMC webpage or contact your local USDA Service Center.
Landowners can sign up for the general Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) March 4 and running through March 29, 2024. The announcement was made by Zach Ducheneaux, Administrator of the USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) at this year’s National Pheasant Fest, in Sioux Falls, SD.
On Nov. 16, 2023, President Biden signed into law H.R. 6363, the Further Continuing Appropriations and Other Extensions Act, 2024 (Pub. L. 118-22), which extended the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (Pub. L. 115-334), more commonly known as the 2018 Farm Bill, through Sept. 30, 2024. This extension allows authorized programs, including CRP, to continue operating.
As one of the largest private lands conservation programs in the United States, CRP offers a range of conservation options to farmers, ranchers, and landowners. It has been an especially strong opportunity for farmers with less productive or marginal cropland, helping them re-establish valuable land cover to help improve water quality, prevent soil erosion, and support wildlife habitat.
Producers and landowners enrolled about 926,000 acres in General CRP in 2023, bringing the total of enrolled acres in General CRP to 7.78 million. This, combined with all other acres in CRP through other enrollment opportunities, such as Grassland and Continuous CRP, bring the current total of enrolled acres to 24.8 million.
General CRP
General CRP helps producers and landowners establish long-term, resource-conserving plant species, such as approved grasses or trees, to control soil erosion, improve water quality and enhance wildlife habitat on cropland. Additionally, General CRP includes a Climate-Smart Practice Incentive to help increase carbon sequestration and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by helping producers and landowners establish trees and permanent grasses, enhance wildlife habitat, and restore wetlands.
General CRP is one of several ways agricultural producers and private landowners can participate in the program.
Other CRP Options
This past January FSA began accepting applications for the Continuous CRP signup. Under this enrollment, producers and landowners can enroll in CRP throughout the year. Offers are automatically accepted provided the producer and land meet the eligibility requirements and the enrollment levels do not exceed the statutory cap.
The USDA also offers financial assistance to producers and landowners enrolled in CRP to improve the health of their forests through the Forest Management Incentive (FMI), which can help participants with forest management practices, such as brush management and prescribed burning.
FSA will announce the dates for Grassland CRP signup in the near future.
Producers with expiring CRP acres can use the Transition Incentives Program (TIP), which incentivizes producers who sell or enter a long-term lease with a beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher who plans to sustainably farm or ranch the land.
How to Sign Up
Landowners and producers interested in CRP should contact their local USDA Service Center to learn more or to apply for the program before their deadlines.
The programs FSA offers can often be the best news possible for a producer living in that uncertainty. In 2023, investments from our programs made positive impacts on the lives of many agricultural producers, including those experiencing distress or those picking up the pieces after natural disasters — investments that will pay dividends for many years to come.
Our dedicated employees delivered more than $16.9 billion in farm programs and farm loans throughout the year. Some noteworthy accomplishments included helping distressed borrowers, improving our processes and programs, and providing support to our producers in times of hardship. These accomplishments were borne out of our concerted effort to approach our policies and programs with fresh eyes, creative ideas and a common purpose guided by the goal of fairly and equitably delivering the most assistance to the most producers possible.
We’re proud of our work in 2023, and our efforts to support our nation’s farmers and ranchers complement the hard work of the Biden-Harris Administration over the past three years.
Read more about FSA’s successes in 2023 by visiting farmers.gov/blog/fsa-investing-in-resilience.
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, maple syrup, 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 local USDA Service Center or visit fsa.usda.gov/pricesupport.
If you’re a new farmer or rancher, can help you get started or grow your operation through a variety of programs and services, from farm loans to crop insurance, and conservation programs to disaster assistance. We offer dedicated help to beginning farmers and ranchers. USDA considers anyone who has operated a farm or ranch for less than ten years to be a beginning farmer or rancher.
The first step is to find your local USDA Service Center by visiting farmers.gov/service-center-locator. Call your local Farm Service Agency (FSA) office to make an appointment to establish a farm number. You can establish a farm number for any land being used for agricultural purposes that is over 0.01 acre.
You’ll need to bring the following to your appointment:
- Proof of identify (driver’s license, social security card, IRS Employer Identification Number (EIN))
- Proof of Ownership (copy of recorded deed or recorded land contract)
- Lease agreements
- Entity Identification Status (articles of incorporation, trust and estate documents, or partnership agreement)
FSA staff will work with you one-on-one to review your documents and register your farm with FSA. Registering your farm allows you to apply for FSA and other USDA programs.
After your farm is registered, you can meet with FSA and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) staff to discuss your business and conservation goals. FSA and NRCS staff can help you determine program eligibility and walk you through the application process.
Depending on your operation, you may want to consider crop insurance. The USDA’s Risk Management Agency provides crop insurance to help you manage risks on your farm. There are many types of insurance products available for a wide variety of production practices, including organic and sustainable agriculture.
More Information
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.
We’re inviting urban producers, innovative producers, and other stakeholders to virtually attend a public meeting of the Federal Advisory Committee for Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production on April 10 from 2-4 p.m. Eastern.
Meeting details can be viewed in the Federal Register Notice. Written comments can be submitted via UrbanAgricultureFederalAdvisoryCommittee@usda.gov by April 24 at 11:59 p.m. The Committee will deliberate and vote on proposed recommendations and address public comments during the meeting. USDA will share the agenda between 24 to 48 hours prior to the meeting on the Committee’s webpage.
The Committee is managed by the Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production and was established through the 2018 Farm Bill and is part of a broad USDA investment in urban agriculture.
Learn more or register.
USDA is expanding crop insurance tailored for nursery producers to all counties in all states. Nursery Value Select (NVS) is a pilot program that enables nursery producers to select the dollar amount of coverage that best fits their risk management needs. Its 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.
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.
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