May 2025 Arkansas Newsletter - May, 2025
In This Issue:
Greetings,
This Memorial Day, as our Nation pauses to remember the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our freedoms, we also take time to honor those Veterans who continue to serve our country – this time in the fields, pastures and rural landscapes of Arkansas.
At the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), we recognize that service doesn’t end when the uniform is folded and put away. Many of our Nation’s Veterans transition from protecting our homeland on the battlefield to nourishing and sustaining it through agriculture. These Veteran farmers embody a profound dedication to the country, one that blends honor, resilience, and stewardship of the land.
Every seed they plant, every acre they conserve, and every resource they manage reflects the same spirit of service that once guided them through military duty. These are our heroes, continuing to defend the Nation’s security – this time through food security, sustainability, and conservation.
NRCS is proud to stand beside these remarkable individuals. We are deeply committed to providing agricultural assistance, technical expertise, and conservation programs tailored to the unique needs of our Veteran farmers. Whether it’s helping them restore soil health, implement irrigation solutions, or start a new farming operation, we are honored to support their mission here at home.
To all who have served, and to those who continue to serve in new and meaningful ways, thank you. Your dedication protects this Nation in more ways than one, and your contributions do not go unnoticed. This Memorial Day, we remember the fallen, salute the living, and reaffirm our commitment to supporting our Veterans in every field they choose.
Regards,
Amanda Mathis
The first 10 years of a farming or ranching operation can be difficult to navigate for any new farmer. USDA recognizes you need dedicated support to help make sense of all the information coming your way. Now each state has a Beginning Farmer and Rancher team headed up by a state coordinator. The coordinator helps producers who have operated a farm or ranch for less than 10 years navigate USDA and partner resources.
To find your State coordinator, visit farmers.gov/newfarmers/coordinators/. For more beginning farmer and rancher information, visit farmers.gov/newfarmers.
Are you a military veteran interested in farming? USDA offers resources to help you:
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Fund Your Operation: USDA’s Farm Service Agency offers a variety of funding opportunities to help agricultural producers finance their businesses. Certain funds are targeted for veterans and beginning farmers and ranchers.
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Conserve Natural Resources: USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service offers conservation programs and expert one-on-one technical assistance to strengthen agricultural operations now and into the future. Veterans may be eligible for a cost share of up to 90 percent and advance payments of up to 50 percent to cover certain conservation practices.
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Manage Risks: USDA is here to help you prepare for and recover from the unexpected. Veterans who are beginning farmers may be eligible for reduced premiums, application fee waivers, increased insurance coverage, and other incentives for multiple USDA programs that support risk management.
USDA wants to ensure that veterans transitioning to agriculture have the resources needed to succeed. To conduct business, please contact your local USDA Service Center. If you’re a new farmer, you can also reach out to your state Beginning Farmer and Rancher Coordinator.
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.
Farm Service Agency (FSA) borrowers with farms located in designated primary or contiguous disaster areas who are unable to make their scheduled FSA loan payments should consider the Disaster Set-Aside (DSA) program.
DSA is available to producers who suffered losses as a result of a natural disaster and relieves immediate and temporary financial stress. FSA is authorized to consider setting aside the portion of a payment/s needed for the operation to continue on a viable scale.
Borrowers must have at least two years left on the term of their loan in order to qualify.
Borrowers have eight months from the date of the disaster designation to submit a complete application. The application must include a written request for DSA signed by all parties liable for the debt along with production records and financial history for the operating year in which the disaster occurred. FSA may request additional information from the borrower in order to determine eligibility.
All farm loans must be current or less than 90 days past due at the time the DSA application is complete. Borrowers may not set aside more than one installment on each loan.
The amount set-aside, including interest accrued on the principal portion of the set-aside, is due on or before the final due date of the loan.
For more information, contact your local County USDA Service Center or visit fsa.usda.gov.
The Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) Farm Storage Facility Loan (FSFL) program provides low-interest financing to help you build or upgrade storage facilities and to purchase portable (new or used) structures, equipment and storage and handling trucks.
Eligible commodities include corn, grain sorghum, rice, soybeans, oats, peanuts, wheat, barley, minor oilseeds harvested as whole grain, pulse crops (lentils, chickpeas and dry peas), hay, honey, renewable biomass, fruits, nuts and vegetables for cold storage facilities, controlled atmosphere storage, floriculture, hops, malted small grains, maple sap, maple syrup, rye, milk, cheese, butter, yogurt, meat and poultry (unprocessed), eggs, and aquaculture (excluding systems that maintain live animals through uptake and discharge of water). Qualified facilities include grain bins, hay barns and cold storage facilities for eligible commodities.
Loans up to $50,000 can be secured by a promissory note/security agreement, loans between $50,000 and $100,000 may require additional security, and loans exceeding $100,000 require additional security.
You do not need to demonstrate the lack of commercial credit availability to apply. The loans are designed to assist a diverse range of farming operations, including small and mid-sized businesses, new farmers, operations supplying local food and farmers markets, non-traditional farm products, and underserved producers.
For more information, contact your local County USDA Service Center or visit fsa.usda.gov/pricesupport.
USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) conducts hundreds of surveys every year and prepares reports covering virtually every aspect of U.S. agriculture.
If you receive a survey questionnaire, please respond quickly and online if possible.
The results of the surveys help determine the structure of USDA farm programs, such as soil rental rates for the Conservation Reserve Program and prices and yields used for the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs. This county-level data is critical for USDA farm payment determinations. Survey responses also help associations, businesses and policymakers advocate for their industry and help educate others on the importance of agriculture.
NASS safeguards the privacy of all respondents and publishes only aggregate data, ensuring that no individual operation or producer can be identified.
NASS data is available online at nass.usda.gov/Publications and through the searchable Quick Stats database. Watch a video on how NASS data is used at Quick Stats database
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.
On April 27, 1935, Congress established the Soil Conservation Service, which would later become the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), as a permanent agency in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. For 90 years, NRCS has helped farmers, ranchers and forestland owners make critical investments in their operations and local communities to keep working lands working and boost agricultural production, while at the same time improving the quality of our air, water, soil, and wildlife habitats.
See our compilation of videos, stories and resources here.
Understanding your specific soil and its dynamic properties, which can change over time due to human impacts, land management, and climate change, can be invaluable. The USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), through the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), has a team of soil and data scientists who are bringing customers the best soil information using the newest technology through the Lab Data Mart.
The Lab Data Mart website, also known as the National Cooperative Lab Characterization Database, brings valuable soil data to the public’s fingertips through a user-friendly, state-of-the-art interactive map. It includes data estimating soil properties such as organic carbon, clay content, calcium carbonate equivalent, and pH, which is beneficial in soil health assessments. Architects, educators, engineers, farmers, landowners, researchers, scientists, and anyone looking to learn more about their soil can access the latest data to make more informed decisions and reduce potential soil risks and hazards.
The Lab Data Mart includes mid-infrared (MIR) soil spectroscopy data gathered during soil analysis at the NRCS’ Kellogg Soil Survey Laboratory, one of the largest libraries of such data in the world. MIR soil spectroscopy uses the interactions between soil matter and infrared radiation to estimate soil properties.
The Lab Data Mart’s interactive map also links to a national database of soil characterization data, allowing users to locate soil samples and “pedons” analyzed in the lab. A pedon is the smallest unit of soil, containing all the soil horizons of a particular soil type. The customized data in the Lab Data Mart is downloadable to multiple applications and web services and is continuously updated as more sampled soil sites are added or re-visited.
How Can the Lab Data Mart Help You?
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Determining carbon credits or improving carbon sequestration: The data can help you determine how much carbon is currently in the top 12 inches of soil and decide whether you want to sequester more carbon and consider methods and management practices to do so.
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Leasing or buying land: The data may help determine if your planned management practices will work; and if not, what could be the added cost to do things differently. Understanding the mineralogy of your soil can help you determine if it requires soil amendments, a new tool or piece of equipment to accomplish your goals, or a change to what you farm or your tillage operation.
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Taking a more systematic view of your land: Whether working with an NRCS conservation planner or on your own, the data helps you know more about your soil and ties into how you look at the whole ecological site.
Who Can Help You Use Lab Data Mart and Help You Understand Your Data?
NRCS State Soil Scientists and their staff, as well as technical service providers, can assist with obtaining the data in Lab Data Mart and understanding it. Contact NRCS at your local USDA Service Center for help and more information. Visit the Lab Data Mart website, or learn more about NRCS’ Soil Science.
Our State Conservationist Amanda Mathis wants to just push these two articles this month, instead of three
Finding the right risk management fit for your farm can feel overwhelming, especially for specialty crop and small-scale farmers and ranchers. That’s why the USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) created a new searchable directory of crop insurance agents who have experience selling Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) and Micro Farm policies.
With 1,135 crop insurance agents listed, providing coverage in all 50 states, the process of finding the “right risk management fit” just got easier.
In addition to the new directory, there are other resources available for specialty crop producers including regional specialists located in each of the RMA regional offices. Feedback is crucial to continually improving risk management options, and specialty crop producers can reach out with suggestions or questions by e-mailing SpecialtyCrops@usda.gov.
Specialty crop and small-scale producers are encouraged to use the new searchable directory and visit the RMA Specialty Crops page.
Whole-Farm Revenue Protection
The first of its kind, WFRP recognizes diversification found on specialty and small-scale farms. With WFRP producers can insure their entire operation including crops, livestock, and nursery production, under one policy. Another advantage of WFRP coverage, is it bridges the insurance gap for several specialty crops that don’t currently have individual policies available.
Micro Farm
Also included in WFRP, the Micro Farm option gives smaller operations more streamlined insurance options. It provides a risk management safety net for all commodities on your farm under one insurance policy. This insurance plan is tailored for any farm with up to $350,000 in approved revenue, including farms with specialty or organic commodities (both crops and livestock), or those marketing to local, regional, farm-identity preserved, specialty, or direct markets.
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USDA Service Centers
Arkansas USDA-FSA
700 West Capitol Room 3416, Little Rock, Arkansas 72201
FSA State Executive Director – William (Ty) Davis
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 State Conservationist - Amanda Mathis
NRCS Phone: 501-301-3149
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
RMA Phone: 601-965-4771 | RMA Fax: 601-965-4517
Jackson, Mississippi | RMA (usda.gov)
Please contact your local Office for questions specific to your operation or county. To find contact information for your local office visit the website below: Get Started at Your USDA Service Center | Farmers.gov
Persons with disabilities who require accommodations to attend or participate in this meeting/event should contact Rita Smith-Clay at 501-301-3200 or Federal Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339.
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