In This Issue:
Happy August –
We are in the peak of tomato season, sweet corn, and all-around summer goodness! County Fair season is nearing an end and children are starting back to school. August always seems so long but soon we will be on the other side of summer!
At the beginning of August, State Committee, State Employees and FSA County employees attended Ag Progress Days in State College. We spoke with current producers, new and beginning farmers, and policy makers throughout the three days. I attended a young farmer panel that was moderated by Secretary Redding and was so impressed by the young women who presented themselves, their businesses, and their careers. The future is bright with these young people following their dreams and giving back to their rural communities. Secretary Redding commented during the session that Pennsylvania is #1 in the country with farmers 35 years and under and second in the nation in direct-to-consumer producers. This is so indicative of the sector of agriculture that we continue to focus on in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States. And a big reason why we have hired a beginning farmer veteran full time coordinator based here in Harrisburg and serving our new producers throughout the State. It is a priority of this Administration and our State leaders to support those coming into farming and we want to make sure that they have the tools they need to succeed. We also have some new changes that are coming out of Washington by our leadership, Administrator Zach Ducheneaux and his team, around agriculture financing, which will be live here on September 25th. As the agriculture industry changes so do we and we remain focused on “growing” farmers while making sure that we are keeping farmers farming.
And we know how hard it’s been this year with the extreme weather that has impacted a large majority of Pennsylvania family farms. Whether it’s been drought, flooding, tornadoes and the like, it has affected many farm families. We offer a range of disaster assistance programs to support producers through these extreme weather events. Physical and structural damages like debris in your fields or washed away fences from flooding, are examples of losses that FSA can assist with, but only if you report them. State Committee member Andy Bater and I, along with Secretary Redding, visited Tioga just a few weeks ago, and saw the devastating damage from Tropical Storm Debby firsthand. Producers should be assessing these losses and reporting them to their FSA county office. If you have any questions, please reach out to your local FSA office for more information about what disaster programs would be available to you. Those disaster programs are highlighted below in this newsletter – Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP), the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP), and Emergency Conservation Program.
FSA also offers a variety of direct and guaranteed farm loans, including operating and emergency farm loans, to producers unable to secure commercial financing. Producers in counties with a primary or contiguous disaster designation may be eligible for low interest emergency loans to help them recover from production and physical losses. Loans can help producers replace essential property, purchase inputs like livestock, equipment, feed and seed, cover family living expenses or refinance farm-related debts and other needs. Additionally, FSA offers several loan servicing options available for borrowers who are unable to make scheduled payments on their farm loan programs debt to the agency because of reasons beyond their control.
Every day of the week our County Office teams work tirelessly to serve the needs of our incredibly diverse Pennsylvania farms - offering financial assistance through our loan programs, technical expertise, and educational programming and resources. Your input on how FSA programs are delivered, your experiences, and your stories all help us to serve you better. Thank you for taking the time to discuss your farm operation and your FSA experience with us. It is you that help guides the work we do! Thank you for the opportunity to serve you.
From my farm gate to yours-
Heidi Secord
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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 usda.gov.
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.
Meanwhile, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provides financial resources through its Environmental Quality Incentives Program to help with immediate needs and long-term support to help recover from natural disasters and conserve water resources. Assistance may also be available for emergency animal mortality disposal from natural disasters and other causes.
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. All USDA Service Centers are open for business, including those that restrict in-person visits or require appointments because of the pandemic.
If you are a farmer or rancher, or have agricultural or business experience, join us in supporting the next generation and in investing in your local community. Your experiences and knowledge as a business owner, agricultural professional, or farmer can provide vital support to your community.
SCORE – score.org - the nation's largest network of volunteer, expert business mentors, is looking to expand the field of available agricultural mentors and provide free business mentoring to farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural and rural business owners.
SCORE is currently looking for volunteers with experience in an agriculture-related field who would like to become part of an extended field of volunteers. The organization’s Orientation and Mentoring Certification program provides volunteers with everything needed to be a successful volunteer. Training includes background about SCORE’s mission and services, as well as guidance on how to be a business mentor, including enhancement of listening, interviewing and problem-solving skills.
Current mentors have backgrounds in finance, accounting, marketing, operations, business and financial planning. The mentors provide local expertise and free one-on-one business mentoring to new and existing farmers and business owners. Together they work through the process of starting or maintaining agricultural and rural businesses. No matter what stage a business is in, SCORE volunteer mentors can help in developing business plans, navigating financing and legal issues, identifying new markets, and other topics, in order to help their clients succeed.
Learn more and sign up to become a mentor today at score.org/usda.
Even when data is at your fingertips it can sometimes still be hard to find what you're looking for – especially when it comes to climate information.
USDA’s Climate Hubs and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) are helping to meet that need by providing Climate Quick Reference Guides for agricultural producers and landowners seeking basic and easily usable climate information.
The Climate Quick Reference Guides, which first published in July 2022 and were updated in August 2023, are now available on farmers.gov. They offer a simple way for users to view historic and projected weather and climate change information at the state and county levels. The easy-to-use guides show key data changes in climate most impactful to agricultural production in the local areas including max temperatures and precipitation amounts by season.
Guides are available for almost every county nationwide following a two-year effort by the Climate Hubs and NRCS.
Those interested in using the guides can access their state-level data by clicking on their state or searching for it by name. If they are interested in accessing county level, they must first select a state and then click the “view counties” button before either searching for the county by name or selecting it on the map. The requested data can then be viewed by clicking the “get guide” button.
The Climate Quick Reference Guides can be especially useful when NRCS conservationists are working with farmers, ranchers and private forest landowners to address natural resource concerns on their land and implement climate-smart agriculture and forestry activities. The guides use layers of science-based maps and graphs to show temperature, precipitation and even crop loss data. The data can in turn help the public make informed decisions for their farms, ranches, or forest lands.
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