USDA NEWSLETTER -- SEPTEMBER, 2024
 In This Issue:
The transition from summer to fall welcomed a much-needed rain across our state. For those of you beginning to get your drills ready, wrapping up your time in the hay field, and gearing up for calving season, keep FSA in mind. Keep your eyes peeled for these FSA deadlines:
October 15, 2024 - Final date to PLANT small grains (wheat, rye, triticale) to be eligible for full season Noninsured Crop Assistance Program and Livestock Forage Program coverage.
January 15th, 2025 - Acreage reporting deadline for small grains and cool season grasses
Office Closures:
October 14, 2024 - Office closed in observance of Columbus Day
November 11, 2024 - Office closed in observance of Veteran's Day
Enjoy the transition to fall and cooler months!
Steve Kouplen
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October 10
Oklahoma FSA Updates:
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is announcing the launch of the Distressed Borrowers Assistance Network, an initiative designed to provide personalized support to financially distressed farmers and ranchers across the nation. Through a series of Cooperative Agreements, this national network will connect distressed borrowers with individualized assistance to help them stabilize and regain financial footing. USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) made this announcement today at the Farm Aid Festival in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Network partners include Farm Aid, Rural Advancement Foundation International, the University of Arkansas, the Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers Policy Center at Alcorn State University, and the University of Minnesota. Through this initiative, we are collaborating with community-based organizations to better serve financially distressed producers. Network partners will provide farm loan policy training to the community-based organizations so the organizations can work alongside FSA to help producers understand financing available through FSA, ensuring that when they visit an FSA office, the partner organization representative and FSA staff can better assist.
FSA, in collaboration with farm support organizations and land-grant institutions, will facilitate this network, which will provide the technical resources and guidance of USDA partners to experts from distressed and underserved communities. The network's approach includes integrating knowledgeable service providers to deliver one-on-one support to borrowers so they can best make plans and understand options to overcome their financial challenges.
The Distressed Borrowers Assistance Network will address the immediate needs of distressed borrowers and provide comprehensive, wraparound services aimed at addressing the unique challenges faced by financially distressed producers. Once stabilized financially, these borrowers will be better positioned to access new opportunities and continue contributing to the agricultural economy. These investments will also build a system of service providers that can better support agricultural communities for years to come. Investing in a network of agricultural financing service providers to help bridge access to FSA loans is a benefit for rural and agricultural communities.
Additional Farm Loan Programs Improvements
FSA recently announced significant changes to Farm Loan Programs through the Enhancing Program Access and Delivery for Farm Loans rule. These policy changes, to take effect Sept. 25, 2024, are designed to expand opportunities for borrowers to increase profitability and be better prepared to make strategic investments in enhancing or expanding their agricultural operations.
FSA also 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 several meaningful improvements including:
- The Loan Assistance Tool that provides customers with an interactive online, step-by-step guide to identifying the direct loan products that may fit their business needs and to understanding the application process.
- 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.
- An online direct loan repayment feature that relieves borrowers from the necessity of calling, mailing, or visiting a local USDA Service Center to pay a loan installment.
- A simplified direct loan paper application, reduced from 29 pages to 13 pages.
- A new educational hub with farm loan resources and videos.
USDA encourages producers to reach out to their local FSA farm loan staff to ensure they fully understand the wide range of loan making and servicing options available to assist with starting, expanding, or maintaining their agricultural operation. To conduct business with FSA, producers should contact their local USDA Service Center.
FSA helps America’s farmers, ranchers and forest landowners invest in, improve, protect and expand their agricultural operations through the delivery of agricultural programs for all Americans. FSA implements agricultural policy, administers credit and loan programs, and manages conservation, commodity, disaster recovery and marketing programs through a national network of state and county offices and locally elected county committees. For more information, visit fsa.usda.gov.
USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. In the Biden-Harris administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, 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 using climate smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit usda.gov.
Nationwide, more than 7,700 dedicated members of the agricultural community serve on USDA Farm Service Agency (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 administers disaster assistance, conservation, commodity and price support programs, advises county office employment and addresses other agricultural issues.
To hold office or vote in FSA county committee elections, there are specific provisions for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) citizens.
Watch this video to hear from agricultural producers, current and retired USDA staff and tribal government officials about the importance of tribal participation in FSA county committee elections.
Nominations
Tribal nation leaders and farm and ranch organizations can nominate agricultural producers for County Committees serving tribal lands. Agricultural producers may be nominated for candidacy for the county committee if they:
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.
Voting
Since the 1990s, every member of an American Indian tribe is considered an agricultural landowner if the land on which the tribal member’s voting eligibility is based is tribally owned or held in trust by the United States for the tribe, even if the individual does not personally produce an agricultural commodity on that land. Members of American Indian tribes holding agricultural land are eligible to vote in an FSA county committee election if the tribal member meets the age requirement of 18 years and older. Tribal agricultural landowner voting eligibility applies only to members of federally recognized Tribes.
How to Vote
Tribal agricultural landowners 18 years and older can contact their USDA Service Center to register to vote with FSA. After providing FSA with contact information, including a current mailing address, tribal landowners will be updated as an eligible voter in the FSA county committee election database.
Tribal Engagement
Additionally, FSA can collaborate directly with Tribal Nations to obtain names and addresses of tribal members 18 years and older to get tribal membership registered in the FSA election system. View FSA’s 2024 call for tribal nominations.
Additional Information
USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) and the USDA Office of Communications collaborated with the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council in Montana to highlight FSA opportunities for federally recognized tribal nations to expand USDA service, outreach and education in tribal communities nationwide.
The national outreach and education project includes aerial footage of the 1.5 million-acre Blackfeet Indian Reservation in northwestern Montana and video interviews with agricultural producers, current and retired USDA staff and tribal government officials. This is part one of a two-part video series – part two will be released later in the year.
For more information, including a USDA Tribal Agricultural Landowner Voting Eligibility poster, visit your local USDA Service Centers, fsa.usda.gov/elections and farmers.gov/tribal.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is announcing the launch of the Debt Consolidation Tool, an innovative online tool available through farmers.gov that allows agricultural producers to enter their farm operating debt and evaluate the potential savings that might be provided by obtaining a debt consolidation loan with USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) or a local lender.
A debt consolidation loan is a new loan used to pay off other existing operating loans or lines of credit that might have unreasonable rates and terms. By combining multiple eligible debts into a single, larger loan, borrowers may obtain more favorable payment terms such as a lower interest rate or lower payments. Consolidating debt may also provide farmers and ranchers additional cash flow flexibilities.
The Debt Consolidation Tool is a significant addition to FSA’s suite of improvements designed to modernize its Farm Loan Programs. The tool enhances customer service and increases opportunities for farmers and ranchers to achieve financial viability by helping them identify potential savings that could be reinvested in their farming and ranching operation, retirement accounts, or college savings accounts.
Producers can access the Debt Consolidation Tool by visiting farmers.gov/debt-consolidation-tool. The tool is built to run on modern browsers including Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or the Safari browser. Producers do not need to create a farmers.gov account or access the authenticated customer portal to use the tool.
Additional Farm Loan Programs Improvements
FSA recently announced significant changes to Farm Loan Programs through the Enhancing Program Access and Delivery for Farm Loans rule. These policy changes, to take effect September 25, 2024, are designed to better assist borrowers to make strategic investments in the enhancement or expansion of their agricultural operations.
FSA also 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 several impactful improvements including:
- 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.
- 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.
- An online direct loan repayment feature that relieves borrowers from the necessity of calling, mailing, or visiting a local USDA Service Center to pay a loan installment.
- A simplified direct loan paper application, reduced from 29 pages to 13 pages.
- A new educational hub with farm loan resources and videos.
USDA encourages producers to reach out to their local FSA farm loan staff to ensure they fully understand the wide range of loan and servicing options available to assist with starting, expanding, or maintaining their agricultural operation. To conduct business with FSA, please contact your local USDA Service Center.
FSA helps America’s farmers, ranchers and forest landowners invest in, improve, protect and expand their agricultural operations through the delivery of agricultural programs for all Americans. FSA implements agricultural policy, administers credit and loan programs, and manages conservation, commodity, disaster recovery and marketing programs through a national network of state and county offices and locally elected county committees. For more information, visit fsa.usda.gov.
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USDA Oklahoma State Office
100 USDA
Stillwater, Oklahoma 74074
Farm Service Agency: 405-742-1130
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State Executive Director
Steve Kouplen
Steve.Kouplen@usda.gov
FSA Executive Officer
Janlyn Elwood
Janlyn.Elwood@usda.gov
State Committee Members:
Jerry McPeak, Chairman
Don Schieber
Carly Griffith-Hotvedt
Leon Barrett
Tom Abernathy
State NRCS Public Affairs Specialist
Carrie Chlebanowski
Carrie.Chlebanowski@usda.gov
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State Conservationist
Jeanne Jasper
FSA Farm Loan Chief
Larry Daniel
Larry.Daniel@usda.gov
State Office Program Chiefs:
J.D Elwood, Production and Payment Eligibility
Tyler Castonguay, Compliance
Kimberly Haines, Conservation
Mattie Alewine, Public Relations and Outreach
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