Agricultural producers should make an appointment with their local Farm Service Agency (FSA) office to complete crop acreage reports before the applicable deadline after planting is complete.

An acreage report documents a crop grown on a farm or ranch, its intended use and location.  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.

How to File a Report 

The acreage reporting date for all spring seeded crops including CRP in Tennessee is July 15, 2024, however, this year it was extended until July 31st due to a wet planting season.

Acreage reporting dates vary by crop and by county.  Contact your local FSA office for a list of acreage reporting deadlines by crop.

To file a crop acreage report, producers need to provide: 

• Crop and crop type or variety
• Intended crop use
• Number of crop acres
• Map with approximate crop boundaries
• Planting date(s)
• Planting pattern, when applicable
• Producer shares
• Irrigation practice(s)
• Acreage prevented from planting, when applicable
• Other required information

Acreage Reporting Details

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 crop harvesting begins. 

Prevented Planted Acreage 

Producers should also report crop acreage they intended to plant but were unable to because of a natural disaster, including drought.  Prevented planted 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 (RMA).  

FSA recently updated policy that applies to prevented planted acreage due to drought.  To certify prevented planted acreage due to drought, all of the following must apply: 

• The area that is prevented from being planted has insufficient soil moisture for seed germination on the final planting date for non-irrigated acreage.

• Prolonged precipitation deficiencies that meet the D3 or D4 drought intensity level as determined by the U.S. Drought Monitor. 

Verifiable information must be collected from sources whose business or purpose is recording weather conditions as determined by FSA.

Continuous Certification Option for Perennial Forage 

Agricultural producers with perennial forage crops have the option to report their acreage once, without having to report that acreage in subsequent years, as long as there are no applicable changes on the farm.  Interested producers can select the continuous certification option after FSA certifies their acreage report.  Examples of perennial forage include mixed forage, birdsfoot trefoil, chicory/radicchio, kochia (prostrata), lespedeza, perennial peanuts and perennial grass varieties.  

Once the continuous certification option is selected, the certified acreage will roll forward annually with no additional action required by the producer in subsequent years unless the acreage report changes.    

Farmers.gov Portal 

Producers can access their FSA farm records, maps, and common land units through the farmers.gov customer portal.  The portal allows producers to export field boundaries as shapefiles and import and view other shapefiles, such as precision agriculture boundaries within farm records mapping.  Producers can view, print and label their maps for acreage reporting purposes.  Level 2 eAuthentication or login.gov access that is linked to a USDA Business Partner customer record is required to use the portal.  

Producers can visit farmers.gov/account to learn more about creating an account. Producers who have authority to act on behalf of another customer as a grantee via an FSA-211 Power of Attorney form, Business Partner Signature Authority or as a member of a business can now access information for the business in the farmers.gov portal.  

More Information 

For questions, producers should call their FSA county office.  To find their FSA county office, visit farmers.gov/service-center-locator

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) county committees are a critical component of the day-to-day operations of FSA and allow grassroots input and local administration of federal farm programs.
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.
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) announced today that most farm loan borrowers will soon be able to make payments to their direct loans online through the Pay My Loan feature on farmers.gov in early February. Pay My Loan is part of a broader effort by USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) to streamline its processes, especially for producers who may have limited time during the planting or harvest seasons to visit a local FSA office; modernize and improve customer service; provide additional customer self-service tools; and expand credit access to assist more producers.

On average, local USDA Service Centers process more than 225,000 farm loan payments each year. Pay My Loan gives most borrowers an online repayment option and relieves them from needing to call, mail, or visit a Service Center to pay their loan installment. Farm loan payments can now be made at the borrower’s convenience, on their schedule and outside of FSA office hours. 

Pay My Loan also provides time savings for FSA’s farm loan employees by minimizing manual payment processing activities. This new service for producers means that farm loan employees will have more time to focus on reviewing and processing new loans or servicing requests.

The Pay My Loan feature can be accessed at farmers.gov/loans. To use the payment feature, producers must establish a USDA customer account and a USDA Level 2 eAuthentication (“eAuth”) account or a Login.gov account. This initial release only allows individuals with loans to make online payments. For now, borrowers with jointly payable checks will need to continue to make loan payments through their local office.

FSA has a significant initiative underway to streamline and automate the Farm Loan Program customer-facing business process. For the over 26,000 producers who submit a direct loan application annually, FSA has made various improvements including: 

• The Online Loan Application, an interactive, guided application that is paperless and provides helpful features including an electronic signature option, the ability to attach supporting documents such as tax returns, complete a balance sheet, and build a farm operating plan.
• The Loan Assistance Tool that provides customers with an interactive online, step-by-step guide to identifying the direct loan products that may be a fit for their business needs and to understanding the application process. 

A simplified direct loan paper application, which reduced loan applications by more than half, from 29 pages to 13 pages.