In This Issue:
 The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) is now accepting nominations for county committee members and encourages all farmers, ranchers, and FSA program participants to take part in the County Committee election nomination process.\
Elections will occur in certain Local Administrative Areas (LAA) for members. LAAs are elective areas for FSA committees in a single county or multi-county jurisdiction. Visit www.fsa.usda.gov/state-offices/New-Jersey/index to find out which LAA(s) are up for election in your Couty Office. Customers can identify which LAA they or their farming or ranching operation is in by using our GIS locator tool available at fsa.usda.gov/elections.
County committee members 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 Aug. 1, 2024.
Agricultural producers who participate or cooperate in a USDA program and reside in the LAA that is up for election this year, may be nominated for candidacy for the county committee. A cooperating producer is someone who has provided information about their farming or ranching 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 producers, women, and beginning farmers or ranchers to nominate, vote and hold office.
Nationwide, more than 7,700 dedicated members of the agricultural community serve on FSA county committees. The committees are made up of 3 to 11 members who serve three-year terms. Committee members are vital to how FSA carries out disaster programs, as well as conservation, commodity and price support programs, county office employment and other agricultural issues.
Eligibility for Nominations for the 2024 County Committee Elections
Committees are comprised of locally elected agricultural producers responsible for the fair and equitable administration of FSA farm programs in their counties. Committee members are accountable to the Secretary of Agriculture. If elected, members become part of a local decision-making and farm program delivery process.
A county committee is composed of 3 to 11 elected members from Local Administrative Areas (LAA). Each member serves a three-year term. To be eligible for nomination and hold office as a committee member or alternate, a person must fulfill each of the following requirements:
- Be eligible to vote in an FSA county committee election*.
- Reside in the LAA that is up for election.
- Must not have been:
- Removed or disqualified from:
- FSA county committee membership or alternate membership, or
- FSA employment.
- Removed for cause from any public office or have been convicted of fraud, larceny, embezzlement or any other felony.
- Dishonorably discharged from any branch of the armed services.
*The following requirements must be met for a person to be eligible to vote in the county committee elections:
- Be of legal voting age or, if not of legal voting age, supervise and conduct the farming operation of an entire farm.
- Have an interest in a farm or ranch as either:
- An individual who meets one or more of the following:
- Is eligible and capable to vote in one’s own right.
- Is a partner of a general partnership.
- Is a member of a joint venture.
- Is an authorized representative of a legal entity.
- Participates or cooperates in any FSA program that is provided by law. A cooperating producer is someone who has provided information about their farming or ranching operation(s) but may not have applied or received FSA program benefits.
All nomination forms for the 2024 election must be postmarked or received in the local USDA Service Center by Aug. 1, 2024. For more information on FSA county committee elections, including fact sheets, nomination forms and FAQs, visit fsa.usda.gov/elections.
 The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is expanding the Food Safety Certification for Specialty Crops (FSCSC) program to now include medium-sized businesses in addition to small businesses. Eligible specialty crop growers can apply for assistance for expenses related to obtaining or renewing a food safety certification. The program has also been expanded to include assistance for 2024 and 2025 expenses. Producers can apply for assistance on their calendar year 2024 expenses beginning July 1, 2024, through Jan. 31, 2025. For program year 2025, the application period will be Jan. 1, 2025, through Jan. 31, 2026.
Specialty crop operations can receive the following cost assistance:
- Developing a food safety plan for first-time food safety certification.
- Maintaining or updating an existing food safety plan.
- Food safety certification.
- Certification upload fees.
- Microbiological testing for products, soil amendments and water.
Read more here: https://www.fsa.usda.gov/state-offices/New-Jersey/news-releases/2024/usda-expands-funding-opportunities-for-specialty-crop-growers-to-help-offset-on-farm-food-safety-expenses-for-2024-and-2025-
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking nominations from specialty crop stakeholders to serve on the Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee (FVIAC). The deadline for nominations is Sept. 3, 2024.
The Secretary of Agriculture will appoint up to 25 individuals, for two-year terms, to succeed members whose terms expire Oct. 28, 2024.
Detailed information about the advisory committee’s background, candidate qualifications, requirements and forms are available on USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service website on the FVIAC Nomination Information webpage.
Nomination packages may be submitted by email to SCPFVIAC@usda.gov, which is preferred, or mailed to: Jennie M. Varela, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Attn: Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee, 1124 1st Street South, Winter Haven, FL, 33880.
Established in 2001, the FVIAC is administered by USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS). Committee members represent the spectrum of the fruit and vegetable industry including shippers, wholesalers, brokers, retailers, processors, fresh cut processors, foodservice suppliers, state agencies, state departments of agriculture and trade associations. The FVIAC meets at least twice a year to develop recommendations on issues affecting the U.S. produce industry.
USDA encourages nominees who reflect the full diversity of the produce sector in terms of size and scale of operation, industry role, demographic characteristics, geographic location and production methods. Qualified candidates include active members of the fruit and vegetable industry serving in one of the above-mentioned agricultural capacities.
Information about the committee is available on the AMS Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee webpage
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This summer, the Conservation Practice Adoption Motivations Survey (CPAMS), a joint project between USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), will be mailed to 43,000 forest and grazing landowners and managers across the nation. The CPAMS gathers information to understand why people choose to use different conservation practices, and whether they continue to use practices over time. The data will help improve voluntary conservation programs. NASS will mail an invitation to respond early online at agcounts.usda.gov starting June 24. NASS will mail questionnaires on July 8 with the option for survey recipients to respond online, by mail, or fax. If NASS does not receive completed questionnaires by July 28, they may reach out to schedule interviews. A data highlights publication is scheduled for October 2024 and will be published at nass.usda.gov.
Four different conservation categories are researched through CPAMS overall: crop practices, confined livestock practices, grazing practices and forestry practices. This year, NASS will survey grazing practices and forestry practices. Crop practices and confined livestock practices were surveyed in 2022. The grazing sample respondents are randomly selected from NASS records of operations that meet the grazing land criteria. The forestry sample respondents are determined by the USDA Forest Service area frame determination of wood or forest landowners.
“By responding to CPAMS, you can help shape the future of conservation, agriculture, and forestry,” said NASS Administrator Joseph L. Parsons. “With better data to help us understand how conservation fits into existing agriculture and forest management operations, program resources can be focused on where they will be most effective. I encourage everyone who receives a CPAMS questionnaire to respond.”
Protected by federal law, responses are confidential and used for statistical purposes only. No single respondent can be identified from the published data.
“Your input will help improve our voluntary conservation programs, including technical and financial assistance,” said NRCS Chief Terry Cosby. “By responding to CPAMS, you also help document and give credit to your ongoing stewardship of America’s agricultural forest land resources.”
Previous CPAMS data are available on the Highlights page of the NASS website. For more information, visit nass.usda.gov/go/CPAMS. For help with the CPAMS questionnaire, call 888-424-7828.
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 Severe weather events create significant challenges and often result in catastrophic loss for agricultural producers. Despite every attempt to mitigate risk, your operation may suffer losses. USDA offers several programs to help with recovery.
Risk Management
For producers who have risk protection through Federal Crop Insurance or the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP), we want to remind you to report crop damage to your crop insurance agent or the local Farm Service Agency (FSA) office.
If you have crop insurance, contact your agency within 72 hours of discovering damage and be sure to follow up in writing within 15 days. If you have NAP coverage, file a Notice of Loss (also called Form CCC-576) within 15 days of loss becoming apparent, except for hand-harvested crops, which should be reported within 72 hours.
Disaster Assistance
USDA also offers disaster assistance programs, which is especially important to livestock, fruit and vegetable, specialty and perennial crop producers who have fewer risk management options.
First, the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) and Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybee and Farm-raised Fish Program (ELAP) reimburses producers for a portion of the value of livestock, poultry and other animals that died as a result of a qualifying natural disaster event or for loss of grazing acres, feed and forage. And, the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) provides assistance to producers of grazed forage crop acres that have suffered crop loss due to a qualifying drought. Livestock producers suffering the impacts of drought can also request Emergency Haying and Grazing on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres.
Next, the Tree Assistance Program (TAP) provides cost share assistance to rehabilitate and replant tree, vines or shrubs loss experienced by orchards and nurseries. This complements NAP or crop insurance coverage, which cover the crop but not the plants or trees in all cases.
For LIP and ELAP, you will need to file a Notice of Loss for livestock and grazing or feed losses by the application deadline for each program. For TAP, you will need to file a program application within 90 days.
Documentation
It’s critical to keep accurate records to document all losses following this devastating cold weather event. Livestock producers are advised to document beginning livestock numbers by taking time and date-stamped video or pictures prior to after the loss.
Other common documentation options include:
- Purchase records
- Production records
- Vaccination records
- Bank or other loan documents
- Third-party certification
Other Programs
The Emergency Conservation Program and Emergency Forest Restoration Program can assist landowners and forest stewards with financial and technical assistance to restore damaged farmland or forests.
Additionally, FSA offers a variety of loans available including emergency loans that are triggered by disaster declarations and operating loans that can assist producers with credit needs. You can use these loans to replace essential property, purchase inputs like livestock, equipment, feed and seed, or refinance farm-related debts, and other needs.
Additional Resources
Additional details – including payment calculations – can be found on our NAP, ELAP, LIP, and TAP fact sheets. On farmers.gov, the Disaster Assistance Discovery Tool, Disaster-at-a-Glance fact sheet, and Farm Loan Discovery Tool can help you determine program or loan options.
While we never want to have to implement disaster programs, we are here to help. To file a Notice of Loss or to ask questions about available programs, contact your local USDA Service Center.
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:
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July 15 - corn, soybeans, spring feed grains, forage, CRP, hemp & most other crops
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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.
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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.
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