Arkansas September USDA Newsletter - September 2024
In This Issue:
As we celebrate September being National Rice Month, I want to take a moment to recognize Arkansas as the number one rice producing state in the nation. Your hard work and dedication have made a significant impact, and I commend each of you for your contributions.
Entering the 2024 harvesting season, I want to highlight some key announcements FSA is making to help support you. USDA will implement changes to the FSA Farm Loan Programs effective September 25th, 2024. These improvements aim to help increase the opportunities for farmers and ranchers to be financially viable by introducing a low-interest installment set-aside program for financially distressed borrowers. Also, providing access to flexible repayment terms, to all eligible loan applicants, that can increase profitability and help build working capital reserves and savings.
Additionally, to further the support you, the new online Debt Consolidation Tool is now available at farmers.gov/debt-consolidation-tool. This tool is designed to help producers consolidate debt and help them to identify potential savings that could be reinvested in their farming and ranching operation, retirement accounts, or college savings accounts.
Our goal is to serve all farmers, ranchers, and agricultural partners; equitably; through the delivery of effective and efficient agricultural programs.
For more information on Farm Service Agency (FSA), contact your local USDA service center or visit www.farmers.gov.
Greetings all,
It is my great pleasure to join NRCS Arkansas during the wrapping of a successful fiscal year.
I grew up in a rural agricultural community in eastern Montana until my enlistment in the US Army in 1991. I earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Land Rehabilitation with a Soil Science Minor from Montana State University in December of 2002. Most of my 23-year NRCS career has been spent as a Supervisory District Conservationist working with agricultural producers and Conservation Districts putting conservation on the ground. In July of 2022, I was selected as the Montana Assistant State Conservationist for RCPP & Easement Programs until I was offered this incredible opportunity to serve as the Acting State Conservationist for the great State of Arkansas.
In just my first few days in this role, I have witnessed the diligence of our staff as they work hard to meet deadlines and prepare for Fiscal Year 2025. As we begin Harvest 2025, I want to thank our producers that maintain our agricultural land and provide us with the foods and goods that we need every day. In the coming weeks, I look forward to getting out and meeting with partner organizations to continue to build on our mutual successes.
Regards,
Justin Meissner
NRCS AR Acting State Conservationist
FSA is cleaning up our producer record database and needs your help. Please report any changes of address, zip code, phone number, email address or an incorrect name or business name on file to our office. You should also report changes in your farm operation, like the addition of a farm by lease or purchase. You should also report any changes to your operation in which you reorganize to form a Trust, LLC or other legal entity.
FSA and NRCS program participants are required to promptly report changes in their farming operation to the County Committee in writing and to update their Farm Operating Plan on form CCC-902.
To update your records, contact your local USDA service center.
Farm Service Agency (FSA) is committed to providing our farm loan borrowers the tools necessary to be successful. FSA staff will provide guidance and counsel from the loan application process through the borrower’s graduation to commercial credit. While it is FSA’s commitment to advise borrowers as they identify goals and evaluate progress, it is crucial for borrowers to communicate with their farm loan staff when changes occur. It is the borrower’s responsibility to alert FSA to any of the following:
- Any proposed or significant changes in the farming operation
- Any significant changes to family income or expenses
- The development of problem situations
- Any losses or proposed significant changes in security
If a farm loan borrower can’t make payments to suppliers, other creditors, or FSA on time, contact your farm loan staff immediately to discuss loan servicing options.
For more information on FSA farm loan programs, contact your local USDA service center or visit fsa.usda.gov.
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.
Farm loan borrowers who have pledged real estate as security for their Farm Service Agency (FSA) direct or guaranteed loans are responsible for maintaining loan collateral. Borrowers must obtain prior consent or approval from FSA or the guaranteed lender for any transaction that affects real estate security. These transactions include, but are not limited to:
- Leases of any kind
- Easements of any kind
- Subordinations
- Partial releases
- Sales
Failure to meet or follow the requirements in the loan agreement, promissory note, and other security instruments could lead to nonmonetary default which could jeopardize your current and future loans.
It is critical that borrowers keep an open line of communication with their FSA loan staff or guaranteed lender when it comes to changes in their operation. For more information on borrower responsibilities, read Your FSA Farm Loan Compass.
Landowners and operators are reminded that in order to receive payments from USDA, compliance with Highly Erodible Land (HEL) and Wetland Conservation (WC) provisions are required. Farmers with HEL determined soils are reminded of tillage, crop residue, and rotation requirements as specified per their conservation plan. Producers are to notify the USDA Farm Service Agency prior to breaking sod, clearing land (tree removal), and of any drainage projects (tiling, ditching, etc.) to ensure compliance. Failure to update certification of compliance, with form AD-1026, triggering applicable HEL and/or wetland determinations, for any of these situations, can result in the loss of FSA farm program payments, FSA farm loans, NRCS program payments, and premium subsidy to Federal Crop Insurance administered by RMA.
Farm Service Agency (FSA) program payments are issued electronically into your bank account. In order to receive timely payments, you need to notify your FSA servicing office if you close your account or if your bank information is changed for any reason (such as your financial institution merging or being purchased). Payments can be delayed if FSA is not notified of changes to account and bank routing numbers.
For some programs, payments are not made until the following year. For example, payments for crop year 2019 through the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage program aren’t paid until 2020. If the bank account was closed due to the death of an individual or dissolution of an entity or partnership before the payment was issued, please notify your local FSA office as soon as possible to claim your payment.
Flowing grain in a storage bin or gravity-flow wagon is like quicksand — it can kill quickly. It takes less than five seconds for a person caught in flowing grain to be trapped.
The mechanical operation of grain handling equipment also presents a real danger. Augers, power take offs, and other moving parts can grab people or clothing.
These hazards, along with pinch points and missing shields, are dangerous enough for adults; not to mention children. It is always advisable to keep children at a safe distance from operating farm equipment. Always use extra caution when backing or maneuvering farm machinery. Ensure everyone is visibly clear and accounted for before machinery is engaged.
FSA wants all farmers to have a productive crop year and that begins with putting safety first.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today new funding for the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) for fiscal year 2025 as part of President Biden and Vice President Harris’ Investing in America agenda. Administered by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, the program helps landowners and other eligible entities conserve, restore, and protect wetlands, productive agricultural lands, and grasslands at risk of conversion to non-grassland uses. Healthy wetlands, grasslands, and farmlands sequester carbon and provide many other natural resource benefits. Today’s funding is made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest investment in climate action in history.
NRCS accepts applications year-round for ACEP Agricultural Land Easements (ACEP-ALE) and Wetland Reserve Easements (ACEP-WRE). Interested producers, landowners, and partners should apply by the next two ranking dates, Oct. 4, 2024, or Dec. 20, 2024, at their local NRCS office, to be considered for these two state-led funding cycles. In addition, any application submitted to NRCS that was unfunded in fiscal year 2024 will be automatically re-considered during the October 4 funding cycle.
In fiscal year 2025, states will receive Inflation Reduction Act funding and all eligible applications within a state will compete. The current ACEP priorities for the Inflation Reduction Act funding are unchanged from last fiscal year and are available in all states. Depending on location, NRCS may also have a state-specific priority. The Inflation Reduction Act funding is in addition to the funding authorized and available under the Farm Bill.
For ACEP-ALE, NRCS is currently prioritizing securing:
• Grasslands in areas of highest risk for conversion to non-grassland uses to prevent the release of soil carbon stores.
• Agricultural lands under threat of conversion to non-agricultural uses.
• State-specific priorities including rice cultivation on subsiding highly organic soils.
For ACEP-WRE, NRCS is currently prioritizing:
• Land with soils high in organic carbon.
• Eligible lands that will be restored to and managed as forests, such as bottomland hardwood forests.
• Eligible lands in existing forest cover that will be managed as forests. • Several geographically specific priorities (i.e., former cranberry bogs, wet meadows, and ephemeral wetlands in grassland ecosystems).
The Inflation Reduction Act included $1.4 billion in additional funding for ACEP over five years and revised ACEP authority, providing funding for easements that will maximize the reduction, capture, avoidance, or sequestration of greenhouse gas emissions. The fiscal year 2025 authorized amount for the Inflation Reduction Act funding for ACEP is $500 million.
ACEP is also a covered program in the President’s Justice40 Initiative, which aims to ensure 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal climate, clean energy and other investment areas flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.
NRCS is streamlining ACEP, to ensure that the program is easier and more convenient to utilize, and to strengthen Inflation Reduction Act implementation. Specifically, NRCS is streamlining ACEP appraisals and land surveys, and certifying eligible entities who help NRCS and producers enroll land into agricultural land easements. For more information, see our fact sheet, ACEP and the Inflation Reduction Act.
This year’s announcement builds on last year’s investments. on March 13, 2024, NRCS announced an investment of about $138 million of financial assistance from the Inflation Reduction Act in 138 new climate-smart conservation easements, through which farmers and ranchers are conserving wetlands, grasslands, and prime farmlands. NRCS will provide additional information regarding funding and sign-up opportunities for the Inflation Reduction Act funding available through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Conservation Stewardship Program, and Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) for fiscal year 2025 in the near future.
More Information
To learn more about NRCS programs, producers can contact their local USDA Service Center. Producers can also apply for NRCS programs, manage conservation plans and contracts, and view and print conservation maps by logging into their farmers.gov account. If you don’t have an account, sign up today.
This August 13-15, Arkansas Natural Resources Conservation Service’s (NRCS) engineers from across the state gathered at the Arkansas Game and Fish Nature Center in Jonesboro, AR for this year’s NRCS Arkansas Engineering Conference. These conferences bring together an interdisciplinary community of engineers and scientists focused on water resource issues, technology transfer, and on-the-job training for all NRCS engineers in the state of Arkansas.
Trainings like this help to keep them up to date with emerging technology, promote comradery, and supply engineers Professional Development Hours (PDHs) for maintaining their engineering license. This year’s focus was primarily irrigation and watershed planning. The conference activities included a site visit to NERREC Northeast Rice Research Center and several discussions including those on solar power technology, natural design techniques, surface irrigation design, hydrology, and micro-irrigation. Thank you to all our speakers, moderators, and partners that made this educational opportunity possible.
The Risk Management Agency (RMA) serves America’s agricultural producers through effective, market-based risk management tools to strengthen the economic stability of agricultural producers and rural communities. RMA is committed to increasing the availability and effectiveness of Federal crop insurance as a risk management tool.
RMA manages the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) to provide innovative crop insurance products to America’s farmers and ranchers. Approved Insurance Providers (AIP) sell and service Federal crop insurance policies in every state and in Puerto Rico through a public-private partnership with RMA. RMA backs the AIPs who share the risks associated with catastrophic losses due to major weather events. Learn more by visiting RMA’s website.
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Arkansas
USDA Service Center
Arkansas USDA-FSA
700 West Capitol Room 3416, Little Rock, Arkansas 72201
FSA State Executive Director - Doris Washington
FSA Phone: 501-301-3000 | FSA Fax: 855-652-2082
www.fsa.usda.gov
www.fsa.usda.gov/state-offices/Arkansas/index
Arkansas USDA-NRCS
700 West Capitol Room 3416, Little Rock, Arkansas 72201
NRCS Acting State Conservationist - Justin Meissner
NRCS Phone: 406-587-6873
www.nrcs.usda.gov
www.ar.nrcs.usda.gov
USDA-RMA / Jackson, Mississippi Regional Office
803 Liberty Road, Jackson, MS 39232-9000
RMA Regional Director – Roddric Bell
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