Producers are encouraged to schedule
an appointment with their local
USDA Service Center
to file their acreage reports as soon as planting is completed.
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June 15 – Acreage Reporting Date for Cucumbers (Planted 5/1 to 5/31) in Knox County
June 19 – Offices Closed in Observance of Juneteenth National Independence Day
June 20 – Final Date to Submit a Prevented Planting Claim for Corn
July 4 – Offices Closed in Observance of Independence Day
July 5 – Final Date to Submit a Prevented Planting Claim for Soybeans
July 15 – Final Acreage Reporting Date for All Other Crops & CRP (Including Cucumbers Planted 5/10 – 6/15 in All Other Indiana Counties)
August 15 - Final Acreage Reporting Date for Cucumbers (Planted 6/16 - 8/5 in Fulton, LaPorte, Porter and St. Joseph Counties)
September 16 - Final Acreage Reporting Date for Cucumbers (Planted 6/1 - 8/15 in Knox County)
If you participated in the 2023 Individual Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC-IC) program, you are required to certify your 2023 crop yields for each covered commodity planted in 2023. The deadline to certify your yields is July 15, 2024.
The following production records can be used to support your certified yield:
- Crop Insurance loss records
- Crop Insurance APH data base records
- Sales records
- Farms stored production records and appraisals.
If you have not yet reported your yields, please contact your local USDA Service Center to schedule an appointment.
Nominations Accepted Through August 1st!
Nominations are now being accepted for farmers to serve on local Farm Service Agency County Committees. These committees make important decisions about how federal farm programs are administered locally. All nomination forms for the 2024 election must be postmarked or received in the local FSA office by August 1, 2024.
Elections for committee members will occur in certain Local Administrative Areas (LAA). LAAs are elective areas for FSA committees in a single county or multi-county jurisdiction and may include LAAs that are focused on an urban or suburban area.
Customers can locate their LAA through a geographic information system locator tool available at fsa.usda.gov/elections and determine if their LAA is up for election by contacting their local FSA office.
Ag producers may be nominated for candidacy for the county committee if they:
- Participate or cooperate in a USDA program.
- Reside in the LAA that is up for election this year.
A cooperating producer is someone who has provided information about their farming operation to FSA, even if they have not applied or received program benefits.
Individuals may nominate themselves or others and qualifying organizations may also nominate candidates. USDA encourages minority, women, urban and beginning farmers to nominate, vote and hold office.
Nationwide, more than 7,700 dedicated members of the ag community serve on FSA county committees. The committees are made up of three to 11 members who serve three-year terms. Committee members are vital to how FSA carries out disaster recovery, conservation, commodity and price support programs, as well as making decisions on county office employment and other agricultural issues.
More Information
Producers should contact their local FSA office today to register and find out how to get involved in their county’s election, including if their LAA is up for election this year. To be considered, a producer must be registered and sign an FSA-669A nomination form. This form and other information about FSA county committee elections are available at fsa.usda.gov/elections.
All nomination forms for the 2024 election must be postmarked or received in the local USDA Service Center by the August 1, 2024, deadline. Election ballots will be mailed to eligible voters in November 2024.
September 4 Deadline
for Local and Tribal Governments and Eligible Groups to Apply
USDA is accepting applications for Composting and Food Waste Reduction (CFWR) pilot projects for fiscal year 2024. The cooperative agreements, using remaining funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, are jointly administered by USDA’s Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Selected projects will develop and test strategies for planning and implementing municipal compost plans and food waste reduction plans and are part of USDA’s broader efforts to support urban agriculture. View the News Release to Learn More.
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USDA is recognizing National Pollinator Week through the continued commitment and support for pollinator health and research. Pollinator species, such as bees, other insects, birds and bats play a critical role in producing more than 100 crops grown in the US. Honeybee pollination alone adds more than $18 billion in value to agricultural crops annually.
Learn more at usda.gov/pollinators.
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Awards will help improve the resiliency of the U.S. food supply chain
by addressing agriculture labor challenges and instability.
USDA is awarding $50 million to 141 awardees in 40 states (including Indiana) and Puerto Rico, through the Farm Labor Stabilization and Protection Pilot Program (FLSP), reaching 177 unique agricultural operations and over 11,000 workers. The awards will help improve the resiliency of the U.S. food supply chain by addressing agriculture labor challenges and instability, strengthen protections for farmworkers, and expand legal pathways for labor migration.
USDA announced the FLSP Program in September 2023, in coordination with other federal agencies, to help address workforce needs in agriculture; promote a safe and healthy work environment, as well as ethical recruitment for farmworkers; and support lawful migration pathways for workers, including expansion of labor pathways for workers from Northern Central America, through the H-2A visa program. FLSP was designed with significant input from immigration, labor, and agricultural stakeholders – informed by the experiences of farmworkers and farmers themselves.
The FLSP Program grants will support a range of required and elective supplemental commitments to expand benefits and protections for all employees. View the complete list of awardees. Examples of awardee commitments include:
- Establishing robust pay-related benefits that have the potential to raise earnings for thousands of workers, as well as provide them more time with their families or taking care of their health through policies such as personal and paid sick time off, and mid-season vacation leave.
- Markedly improving working and living conditions by strengthening employer-employee engagement, such as establishing Collaborative Working Groups with robust farmworker representation and partnerships with external organizations that have longstanding experience collaborating with farmworkers.
- Providing additional worker-friendly benefits, such as advancement and management training opportunities, driver’s license training, no-cost English classes for employees, and additional recreation spaces in housing facilities.
- Supporting Know-Your-Rights-and-Resources training sessions for all workers to ensure they understand their legal rights as workers in the US.
- Participation in Worker-driven Social Responsibility programs – a proven model for improving workplace environments – such as the Fair Food Program.
- Disclosing recruitment practices and advancing ethical, safe recruitment practices that are essential to protecting workers from illegal fees, undue debt, exploitation, and even human trafficking.
- 60 percent of employer awardees that plan to utilize the H-2A visa program committed to recruiting workers from Northern Central America.
For more information on the FLSP Program, visit ams.usda.gov/services/grants/flsp.
Financial assistance provided by USDA’s Discrimination Financial Assistance Program (DFAP) is taxable, and producers will need to report the assistance as gross income during next year’s filing season. Join experts Guido van der Hoeven and JC Hobbs as they discuss strategies for dealing with the tax liabilities that DFAP recipients may encounter.
Event: Tax Strategies for the Discrimination Financial Assistance Program
Date: Monday, June 24, 2024
Time: 1 p.m. ET
Register: zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_CuL_vfOMTPaGeecyLwWnvA#/registration
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Community-based and nonprofit organizations, institutions of higher education, and Tribal-serving organizations are invited to join staff from the USDA's Office of Partnership and Public Engagement (OPPE) for a webinar about the 2501 grant application process.
For more than 30 years, and in partnership with organizations nationwide, the 2501 Program has helped reach underserved farmers and ranchers. With 2501 funding, organizations conduct education, training, farming demonstrations, and conferences on farming and agribusiness. This program is administered by OPPE.
2501 Program partners are based in local communities and rural areas where they serve a critical role in maximizing USDA’s outreach efforts to underserved communities. They provide training and technical assistance to help these agricultural producers succeed and also connect them to USDA programs and services.
Applications for this year's 2501 Program grant must be submitted through grants.gov and received by Friday, July 5, 2024. Visit the 2501 Program page for more information on the 2501 funding opportunity.
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Indiana FSA is hiring County Executive Directors in Adams, Clay, Fayette, Madison and Steuben counties.
To learn more about this exciting job opportunity and to apply, scan the QR code to visit USAJobs. Applications will be accepted June 10 through June 24, 2024.
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