With the middle of March behind us, the weather continues to change daily. The day light part of each day is getting longer and Spring is not that far away. In fact, Spring begins tomorrow, March 20th. Enjoy the changing of the seasons.

National Ag Day:  National Ag Day was recognized on March 18th. On National Ag Day, we pay tribute to every farmer and rancher who helps make our country strong. We celebrate the people who work every day to feed, fuel and sustain a growing world. 

Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP):  Signup for the ECAP begins on March 19, 2025 and ends on August 15, 2025. Applications will be mailed to eligible individuals. Applications are also available at the FSA Office. See article below on additional details.

2025 ARC/PLC Signup is Underway:  FSA has announced the 2025 enrollment period for the key safety-net program – Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC). The enrollment period for the 2025 crop year ends on April 15, 2025. 

Dairy Margin Coverage:  Dairy producers can enroll in 2025 Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC), a safety net program that provides producers with price support to help offset milk and feed price differences. This year’s DMC signup ends on March 31, 2025.  

Farm Records & Other Changes:  If you are making any changes to your farming operation (land sold/purchased, renting new land, or dropping land) please notify FSA immediately after these changes occur. Updating your records now will save you time when signing up for ARCPLC, reporting your acres, and ensuring maps are ready. FSA is not notified by the County Recorder’s Office of these sales. In addition, notify FSA if your bank account has changed.

Livestock Indemnity Program:  A reminder for all livestock producers to keep records throughout the year. It becomes essential to have inventory and loss records when applying for livestock programs. The Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) provides disaster assistance to livestock owners who experience livestock deaths, in excess of normal mortality, caused by eligible events for calendar year 2025. Please notify the FSA office as soon as possible after livestock losses so the Notice of Loss to start the application process is in place.  

Farm Loan Program (FLP) Update:  The Credit Team that works with our farm loan programs (annual operating and farm ownership loans) encourages everyone that may need assistance from the FSA office to apply sooner than later. The earlier you apply the less chance of funding limitations as we get closer to the 2025 planting season. The Credit Team members, which service Wilkin and West Otter Tail, can be reached at the USDA Service Center in Fergus Falls at 218-739-4694.

Commodity Loans:  FSA offers a 9-month commodity loan for grain in storage which is a great tool to help finance your operation. If you have 2024 grain in the bin, marketing assistance loans are able to provide interim financing following harvest time to meet cash flow needs without having to sell commodities when market prices are typically at harvest-time lows. Allowing producers to store production at harvest facilitates and allowing for orderly marketing of commodities throughout the year. A commodity loan is also a great end of year tax planning tool. Once you are ready to sell the grain or prior to loan maturity, you can pay off the loan.

Farm Storage Facility Loan Program - Need to Upgrade a Piece of Equipment for Handling Your Commodities? Producers can use the Farm Storage Facility Loan program to purchase farm equipment such as grain and beet carts, multi-axle trucks, semi-truck and trailers, skid steers, grain augers, bins, dryers, propane tanks and much more. If you want to know more about this program and how it might be of value to your operation, email or give us a call. The interest rates are listed below.

Leon Johnson, CED

Important Dates and Deadlines:
March 31 – Deadline to enroll in the 2025 Dairy Margin
                    Coverage (DMC) program
March 31 - Deadline to request Marketing Assistance Loan (MAL) for prior year
                   harvested wheat, barley, canola, honey, and oats.
April 15 - Deadline for 2025 Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss
                 Coverage (PLC) enrollment.
May 31 – Deadline to Apply for a Commodity Loan for 2024-Crop Corn, Soybeans,
                Sunflowers, & Dry Peas

March Interest Rates

Farm Storage Facility Loan Program Interest Rates

4.250% - Farm Storage Facility Loans, 3-Year
4.375% - Farm Storage Facility Loans, 5-Year
4.500% - Farm Storage Facility Loans, 7-Year
4.500% - Farm Storage Facility Loans, 10-Year
4.625% - Farm Storage Facility Loans, 12-Year

Farm Loan Program - Interest Rates
5.500% - Farm Operating Loans, Direct
5.875% - Farm Ownership Loans, Direct
3.875% - Farm Ownership, Joint Financing
1.875% - Farm Ownership Loans, Beginning Farmer Down Payment

Commodity Loan Interest Rate:  5.250%

Are you getting TEXT messages from FSA?  If not, keep Connected with FSA. With all of the existing programs and new programs becoming available to assist you, I don’t want you to miss out on any of these deadlines.  I highly encourage you to sign up for our text message alerts.  FSA provides text message alerts (no more than 2 per month) for important reminders and deadlines.  Don’t miss out on getting these important reminders! Let’s get you signed up right now!

1. Take out your cell-phone
2. Create a new text message, send:  MNWestOtterTail to 372-669 
   or  MNWilkin to 372-669
3. Press send

If you did these 3 easy steps, you are signed up to receive text alerts!

Program payments to offset increased input costs, market decline.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, on National Agriculture Day, announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is issuing up to $10 billion directly to agricultural producers through the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP) for the 2024 crop year. Administered by USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), ECAP will help agricultural producers mitigate the impacts of increased input costs and falling commodity prices.

Authorized by the American Relief Act, 2025, these economic relief payments are based on planted and prevented planted crop acres for eligible commodities for the 2024 crop year. To streamline and simplify the delivery of ECAP, FSA will begin sending pre-filled applications to producers who submitted acreage reports to FSA for 2024 eligible ECAP commodities soon after the signup period opens on March 19, 2025. Producers do not have to wait for their pre-filled ECAP application to apply. They can visit fsa.usda.gov/ecap to apply using a login.gov account or contact their local FSA office to request an application once the signup period opens.

Eligible Commodities and Payment Rates

The commodities below are eligible for these per-acre payment rates:

Producer Eligibility

Eligible producers must report 2024 crop year planted and prevented planted acres to FSA on an FSA-578, Report of Acreage form. Producers who have not previously reported 2024 crop year acreage or filed a notice of loss for prevented planted crops must submit an acreage report by the Aug. 15, 2025, deadline. Eligible producers can visit fsa.usda.gov/ecap for eligibility and payment details.

Applying for ECAP

Producers must submit ECAP applications to their local FSA county office by Aug. 15, 2025. Only one application is required for all ECAP eligible commodities nationwide. ECAP applications can be submitted to FSA in-person, electronically using Box and One-Span, by fax or by applying online at fsa.usda.gov/ecap utilizing a secure login.gov account.

If not already on file for the 2024 crop year, producers must have the following forms on file with FSA:

• Form AD-2047, Customer Data Worksheet.
• Form CCC-901, Member Information for Legal Entities (if applicable).
• Form CCC-902, Farm Operating Plan for an individual or legal entity.
• Form CCC 943, 75 percent of Average Gross Income from Farming,
       Ranching, or Forestry Certification (if applicable).
• AD-1026, Highly Erodible Land Conservation (HELC) and Wetland
      Conservation (WC) Certification.
• SF-3881, Direct Deposit.

Except for the new CCC-943, most producers, especially those who have previously participated in FSA programs, likely have these forms on file. However, those who are uncertain and want to confirm the status of their forms or need to submit the new Form-943, can contact their local FSA county office.

If a producer does not receive a pre-filled ECAP application, and they planted or were prevented from planting ECAP eligible commodities in 2024, they should contact their local FSA office.

ECAP Payments and Calculator

ECAP payments will be issued as applications are approved. Initial ECAP payments will be factored by 85% to ensure that total program payments do not exceed available funding. If additional funds remain, FSA may issue a second payment.

ECAP assistance will be calculated using a flat payment rate for the eligible commodity multiplied by the eligible reported acres. Payments are based on acreage and not production. For acres reported as prevented plant, ECAP assistance will be calculated at 50%.

For ECAP payment estimates, producers are encouraged to visit fsa.usda.gov/ecap to use the ECAP online calculator.

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.

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires Federal agencies to consider all potential environmental impacts for federally funded projects before the project is approved.

For all Farm Service Agency (FSA) programs, an environmental review must be completed before actions are approved, such as site preparation or ground disturbance. These programs include, but are not limited to, the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP), Farm Storage Facility Loan (FSFL) program and farm loans. If project implementation begins before FSA has completed an environmental review, the request will be denied. Although there are exceptions regarding the Stafford Act and emergencies, it’s important to wait until you receive written approval of your project proposal before starting any actions.

Applications cannot be approved until FSA has copies of all permits and plans. Contact your local FSA office early in your planning process to determine what level of environmental review is required for your program application so that it can be completed timely.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) reminds foreign investors with an interest in agricultural land in the United States that they are required to report their land holdings and transactions to USDA.

The Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) requires foreign investors who buy, sell or hold an interest in U.S. agricultural land to report their holdings and transactions to the USDA. Foreign investors must file AFIDA Report Form FSA-153 with the FSA county office in the county where the land is located. Large or complex filings may be handled by AFIDA headquarters staff in Washington, D.C.

According to CFR Title 7 Part 781, any foreign person who holds an interest in U.S. agricultural land is required to report their holdings no later than 90 days after the date of the transaction.

Foreign investors should report holdings of agricultural land totaling 10 acres or more used for farming, ranching or timber production, and leaseholds on agricultural land of 10 or more years. Tracts totaling 10 acres or less in the aggregate, and which produce annual gross receipts in excess of $1,000 from the sale of farm, ranch, forestry or timber products, must also be reported. AFIDA reports are also required when there are changes in land use, such as from agricultural to nonagricultural use. Foreign investors must also file a report when there is a change in the status of ownership.

The information from AFIDA reports is used to prepare an annual report to Congress. These annual reports to Congress, as well as more information, are available on the FSA  AFIDA webpage.

Assistance in completing the FSA-153 report may be obtained from the local FSA office. For more information regarding AFIDA or FSA programs, contact the East Otter Tail County FSA office at 218-346-4260 or visit farmers.gov.