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Lafayette County, MO USDA Service Center - February 26, 2025

In This Issue:

• Dates to Remember/Interest Rates/Announcements
• Producers Can Now Enroll in ARC and PL
• FSA Offers Livestock Indemnity Program for Livestock Losses
• Applying for FSA Guaranteed Loans
• Ask the Expert: A Q&A on Resources to Support Grazing Land Conservation with Carrie-Ann Houdeshell

Dates to Remember/Interest Rates/Announcements

January 1-December 31-Livestock Indemnity Program-Don't forget to notify the FSA Office of livestock deaths. If there is an extreme weather event, you will need normal livestock deaths along with deaths caused by the extreme weather event. This program goes by calendar year. 
March 3-Deadline to sign-up for Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybee, and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP)
March 15-Deadline to sign-up for Non-Insurable Crop Assistance Program (NAP) Coverage
March 20-County Committee Meeting AT 8:00 a.m.(tentatively)*
March 31-Deadline to sign-up for Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC)|
April 15-Deadline to sign-up for ARC/PLC

This list is not all inclusive. If you have a specific program you are interested in, please call your local FSA office.

*Persons with disabilities who require accommodations to participate in this meeting should contact Annette Colvin at 660-584-8732 Ext. 2 or dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.

Farm Loan Interest Rates
Direct Farm Operating: 5.125%
Direct Farm Ownership: 5.500%
Direct Farm Ownership- Joint Financing: 3.500%
Direct Farm Ownership- Down Payment: 1.500%

Farm Storage Facility Loans Interest Rates
3-year loan term: 4.375%
5-year loan term: 4.500%
7-year loan term: 4.500%
10-year loan term: 4.625%
12-year loan term: 4.750%

The Lafayette County USDA Service Center has officially re-location to 1650 Hwy 13 Blvd in Higginsville. Our hours are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday - Friday. For more information contact the Lafayette County FSA Office at 660-584-8732 Ext. 2.

If you are not signed up for our text caster, you can do so by texting MOLafayette to FSA-NOW (372-669).

Producers Can Now Enroll in ARC and PL

USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) is accepting enrollments and elections for the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) for 2025 from Jan. 21 to April 15. ARC and PLC provide financial protections to farmers from substantial drops in crop prices or revenues and are vital economic safety nets for most American farms. The American Relief Act, 2025 extended many Farm Bill-authorized programs for another year, including ARC and PLC.

Producers can elect coverage and enroll in ARC-County (ARC-CO) or PLC, which provide crop-by-crop protection, or ARC-Individual (ARC-IC), which protects the entire farm. Although election changes for 2025 are optional, producers must enroll through a signed contract each year. Also, if a producer has a multi-year contract on the farm it will continue for 2025 unless an election change is made.

If producers do not submit their election revision by the April 15 deadline, their election remains the same as their 2024 election for commodities on the farm from the prior year. Farm owners cannot enroll in either program unless they have a share interest in the cropland.

Covered commodities include barley, canola, large and small chickpeas, corn, crambe, flaxseed, grain sorghum, lentils, mustard seed, oats, peanuts, dry peas, rapeseed, long grain rice, medium grain rice, safflower seed, seed cotton, sesame, soybeans, sunflower seed and wheat.

USDA also reminds producers that ARC and PLC elections and enrollments can impact eligibility for some crop insurance products including Supplemental Coverage Option, Enhanced Coverage Option and, for cotton producers, the Stacked Income Protection Plan (commonly referred to as STAX).

For more information on ARC and PLC, producers can visit the ARC and PLC webpage or contact your Lafayette County USDA Service Center at 660-584-8732 Ext. 2.

FSA Offers Livestock Indemnity Program for Livestock Losses

The Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) provides assistance to you for livestock deaths in excess of normal mortality caused by adverse weather, disease and attacks by animals reintroduced into the wild by the federal government or protected by federal law.

For disease losses, FSA county committees can accept veterinarian certifications that livestock deaths were directly related to adverse weather and unpreventable through good animal husbandry and management.

You must file a notice of loss and provide the following supporting documentation to your local FSA office March 1 after calendar year in which the eligible loss condition occurred.

· Proof of death documentation

· Copy of grower’s contracts

· Proof of normal mortality documentation

USDA has established normal mortality rates for each type and weight range of eligible livestock, i.e. Adult Beef Cow = 1.5% and Non-Adult Beef Cattle = 5%. These established percentages reflect losses that are considered expected or typical under “normal” conditions. In addition to filing a notice of loss, you must also submit an application for payment for 2024 calendar year losses by March 3, 2025.

For more information about LIP, contact your Lafayette County USDA Service Center at 660-584-8732 Ext. 2 or visit fsa.usda.gov.

Applying for FSA Guaranteed Loans

FSA guaranteed loans allow lenders to provide agricultural credit to farmers who do not meet the lender's normal underwriting criteria. Farmers and ranchers apply for a guaranteed loan through a lender, and the lender arranges for the guarantee. FSA can guarantee up to 95 percent of the loss of principal and interest on a loan. Guaranteed loans can be used for both farm ownership and operating purposes.

Guaranteed farm ownership loans can be used to purchase farmland, construct or repair buildings, develop farmland to promote soil and water conservation or to refinance debt.

Guaranteed operating loans can be used to purchase livestock, farm equipment, feed, seed, fuel, farm chemicals, insurance and other operating expenses.

FSA can guarantee farm ownership and operating loans up to $2,251,000. Repayment terms vary depending on the type of loan, collateral and the producer's ability to repay the loan. Operating loans are normally repaid within seven years and farm ownership loans are not to exceed 40 years.

For more information on guaranteed loans, contact your Lafayette County USDA Service Center at 660-584-8732 Ext. 2 or visit fsa.usda.gov.

Ask the Expert: A Q&A on Resources to Support Grazing Land Conservation with Carrie-Ann Houdeshell

Carrie-Ann Houdeshell is a Grazing Land Co-Lead for the  Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP), an effort led by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to evaluate and inform voluntary conservation across the nation’s working lands. In this Ask the Expert, Carrie-Ann answers questions about recent findings on three key grazing land conservation practices, new resources to assist data-driven conservation decision making across the nation’s non-federal grazing land and federal rangeland, and NRCS programs and services to support ranchers and other land managers in pursuing voluntary conservation. 

Let’s start with the basics: When we talk about “grazing land,” what is included?  

Grazing land is a collective term that includes rangeland, pastureland, grazed forests, native and naturalized pasture, hayland, and grazed cropland. All 50 states have grazing land, and the national grazing land footprint is incredible – approximately 40 percent of all land across the United States. That includes more than 580 million acres of private land and more than 390 million acres of land managed by federal agencies.  

Ranchers and other land managers use grazing land to feed and raise livestock, providing food and fiber for the United States and beyond. Through their stewardship, grazing land also delivers a suite of ecosystem services – like water conservation, wildlife habitat, and carbon sequestration – that benefit us all.   

Read more about grazing lands.  

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