Clarke-Decatur County Iowa - June 4, 2025
In This Issue:
Please call the office at 641-342-2162 to let us know you are coming in and the reason. This is highly encouraged! Appointments help FSA and NRCS staff adequately prepare for your visit.
Appointments will take precedence over walk-ins. We are short staffed and appreciate your patience!
Customer service is our number one goal!
County Committee Meeting: June 16 @ 9:00 a.m.
SWCD Commissioners Meeting: June 11 @ 4:00 p.m.
COC and SWCD meeting dates and times are subject to change.
Please contact us at 641-342-2162 or by email at iaosceola-fsa@usda.gov.
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May 12 - June 6 - 2025 CRP Enrollment Period
May 15 - August 1 - Primary Nesting Season - CRP
June 19 - Juneteenth - Office Closed
July 4 - Independence Day - Office Closed
July 15 - 2025 Crop/CRP Certification Deadline
August 15 - ECAP Signup Deadline
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Maps are now available at the Clarke-Decatur County FSA Office for acreage reporting purposes. If you wish to receive your maps by e-mail, please call our office or email the Clarke-Decatur County FSA office at iaosceola-fsa@usda.gov. The following acreage reporting deadlines are applicable for Clarke-Decatur County:
- July 15, 2025: CRP, pasture, hay, and spring crop certification deadline
In order to maintain program eligibility and benefits, you must file timely acreage reports. Failure to file an acreage report by the crop acreage reporting deadline may cause ineligibility for future program benefits. FSA will not accept acreage reports provided more than a year after the acreage reporting deadline.
Please call the office at 641-342-2162 x 2 to schedule an appointment when you are ready to report your acres.
For more information you can visit Farmers.gov Crop Acreage Reporting.
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Looking for ways to do business with USDA that saves you time? Look no further than farmers.gov.
When you create an account for the farmers.gov authenticated customer portal, you have access to self-service features through a secure login. Managing your business with USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is faster than ever. From e-signing documents, viewing, printing, and exporting maps and receiving notifications of payment disbursements, a farmers.gov authenticated account makes doing business with USDA easy and secure.
What can you do with your farmers.gov account?
- View FSA Farm Loan information including interest payments, loan advances, payment history and paid-in-full/restructured loans.
- Make USDA direct farm loan payments using the Pay My Loan feature.
- Access the Online Loan Application portal.
- View, print and export detailed FSA farm records and farm/tract maps.
- Import precision agriculture planting boundaries, create labels containing crop information, and print both on farm tract maps.
- View and print your FSA-156EZ with farm details
- View and print your Producer Farm Data Report
- View NRCS Disbursements and Farm Loans financial activity from the past 180 days.
- View your land, access NRCS data on your conservation plans, contracts, and planning land units through the Conservation Land Area page.
- View, upload, download and e-sign NRCS documents.
- Request NRCS conservation and financial assistance, including submitting a program application.
- View detailed information on all previous and ongoing NRCS contracts, including the amount of cost- share assistance received and anticipated; and even request contract modifications, report practice completion and request practice certification.
- “Switch Profiles” to act on behalf of your entity or another individual when you have active representative authority on file
If you’d like to see the features in action and learn more about how to use them, check out the 3-5 minute farmers.gov account video tutorials.
How do you create a farmers.gov account?
Visit farmers.gov/account to access information about farmers.gov accounts and sign in to the site’s authenticated portal. You will need a Login.gov account linked to your USDA customer record to access your farmers.gov authenticated site. Customers who are new to USDA should visit Get Started at Your USDA Service Center, then go to farmers.gov/account to create a farmers.gov account.
To create a farmers.gov account you will need:
- A USDA individual customer record — A customer record contains information you have given to USDA to do business with them, like your name, address, phone number, and any legal representative authority relationships. Contact your local USDA Service Center to make sure you have an individual USDA customer record on file and your information is up to date.
- A Login.gov account — Login.gov is a sign-in service that gives people secure online access to participating government programs. You can create a Login.gov account linked to your customer record by following the directions on gov/account.
- Identity Verification — You can choose to verify your identity with Login.gov or in-person at a USDA Service Center.
In addition to the self-service features, farmers.gov also has information on USDA programs, farm loans, disaster assistance, conservation programs and crop insurance.
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The USDA Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) Direct Farm Ownership loans can help farmers and ranchers become owner-operators of family farms, improve and expand current operations, increase agricultural productivity, and assist with land tenure to save farmland for future generations.
There are three types of Direct Farm Ownership Loans: regular, down payment and joint financing. FSA also offers a Direct Farm Ownership Microloan option for smaller financial needs up to $50,000.
Joint financing allows FSA to provide more farmers and ranchers with access to capital. FSA lends up to 50 percent of the total amount financed. A commercial lender, a state program or the seller of the property being purchased, provides the balance of loan funds, with or without an FSA guarantee. The maximum loan amount for a joint financing loan is $600,000, and the repayment period for the loan is up to 40 years.
The operation must be an eligible farm enterprise. Farm Ownership loan funds cannot be used to finance nonfarm enterprises, and all applicants must be able to meet general eligibility requirements. Loan applicants are also required to have participated in the business operations of a farm or ranch for at least three years out of the 10 years prior to the date the application is submitted. The applicant must show documentation that their participation in the business operation of the farm or ranch was not solely as a laborer.
For more information about farm loans, contact your Clarke-Decatur County USDA Service Center at 641-342-2162 or visit fsa.usda.gov.
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Top of page
Clarke-Decatur USDA Service Center
709 Furnas Drive
Osceola, IA 50213
Phone: 641-342-2162 Fax: 855-211-4021
Email: iaosceola-fsa@usda.gov
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FSA
Hilary Mothershead, CED
hilary.mothershead@usda.gov
Deb May, Farm Loan Manager
deb.may@usda.gov
FSA Staff
Leslie Rinner, PA
Macey Shields, PA
Brian Kennedy, PA
County Committee Members
Tracy Booth
Jacob Lupkes
Jerod Flaherty
Zach Mendenhall
Allen Norman
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NRCS
Jordan Summers, Acting DC Clarke County
jordan.summers@usda.gov
Matthew Judkins, DC Decatur County
matthew.judkins@usda.gov
NRCS Staff
Connie Harmsen, Conservation Assistant - Clarke Co
James Bultman, Soil Conservationist - Clarke Co
Clayton Allen, State Technician - Clarke Co
Karen Morris, Conservation Assistant - Decatur Co
Sydney Craig, Soil Conservationist - Decatur Co
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