In This Issue:
Hello Illinois agriculture producers,
I’m excited to once again have the privilege of serving as State Executive Director for Illinois Farm Service Agency (FSA). Many of you already know me, but for those of you who don’t, I’ll share a little background.
I grew up on a farm. My father was a World War II combat Infantryman. My mom was trained during the war to be a nurse in the Army/Navy Nurse Corp. After the war, my parents got married and they started farming. They both grew up during the depression and knew hard times. I started farming in high school during the late 1970s. I married Judi, the most wonderful person in the world, and she is my farming partner and best friend. Judi runs our farming operation, and everyone calls her the boss. Judi and I both earned agriculture degrees from Illinois State University. We farm in central Illinois where we raise corn, soybeans, hay and cattle.
As I’m sure you’re aware, Illinois FSA’s dedicated staff provide the best possible support to agriculture producers across the state — administering farm programs, farm loans and disaster assistance. Southern Illinois has had a very difficult, wet spring. If you follow the Cardinals like I do, you know that it’s been a rough spring based on the number of games that were rained out. Please remember to make an appointment to certify your spring-seeded crops before the applicable deadline. July 15 is a major deadline for most crops, but acreage reporting dates vary by county and by crop.
We have over 62,000 Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP) contracts that were signed and processed. To date, we have disbursed more than $651.8 million in much needed assistance to eligible Illinois producers for economic losses for covered commodities based on 2024 planted and prevented planted acres. Producers have until Aug. 15, 2025, to enroll in ECAP.
There are many FSA employees who work very hard behind the scenes in Illinois to deliver FSA programs. To amplify their efforts, I’m starting an employee spotlight section in this newsletter. This month, we’re spotlighting our Farm Loan Chief who oversees loan making and servicing for the entire state. The Illinois FSA Farm Loan portfolio is just shy of one billion dollars in Direct Farm Loans. Please reach out to your local Farm Loan team for any loan assistance needs.
I look forward to meeting and supporting producers across the state and I am proud to once again be part of an administration that puts Farmers First and is dedicated to American agriculture.
William Graff
State Executive Director, Illinois
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) is extending the prevented planting crop reporting deadline for producers affected by spring flooding, excessive moisture, or qualifying drought.
Producers who intended to plant this spring, but were unable due to weather conditions, now have until the acreage reporting deadline for the applicable crop being claimed as prevented planting. July 15 is a major deadline for most crops, but acreage reporting deadlines vary by county and by crop.
Producers need to report prevented planting acres to retain eligibility for FSA program benefits. Normally, the prevented planting reporting deadline is 15 calendar days after the final planting date for a crop as established by FSA and the Risk Management Agency (RMA). The prevented planting reporting deadline extension only applies to FSA and does not change any RMA crop insurance reporting deadline requirements.
The extension does not apply to crops covered by FSA’s Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP). Producers should check with their local FSA office regarding prevented planting provisions for NAP-covered crops.
Producers are encouraged to contact their local FSA office as soon as possible to make an appointment to report prevented planting acres and submit their spring crop acreage report. To locate your local FSA office, visit farmers.gov/service-locator.
Options Help More Beginning, Small and Urban Producers Gain Access to Credit
Producers can apply for a streamlined version of USDA guaranteed loans, which are tailored for smaller scale farms and urban producers EZ Guarantee Loans use a simplified application process to help beginning, small, underserved, and family farmers and ranchers apply for loans of up to $100,000 from USDA-approved lenders to purchase farmland or finance agricultural operations.
A new category of lenders will join traditional lenders, such as banks and credit unions, in offering USDA EZ Guarantee Loans. Microlenders, which include Community Development Financial Institutions and Rural Rehabilitation Corporations, will be able to offer their customers up to $50,000 of EZ Guaranteed Loans, helping to reach urban areas and underserved producers. Banks, credit unions and other traditional USDA-approved lenders, can offer customers up to $100,000 to help with agricultural operation costs.
EZ Guarantee Loans offer low interest rates and terms up to seven years for financing operating expenses and 40 years for financing the purchase of farm real estate. USDA-approved lenders can issue these loans with the Farm Service Agency (FSA) guaranteeing the loan up to 95 percent.
For more information about the available types of FSA farm loans, contact your Local County USDA Service Center or visit fsa.usda.gov/farmloans.
Farm Service Agency (FSA) loans require applicants to have a satisfactory credit history. A credit report is requested for all FSA direct farm loan applicants. These reports are reviewed to verify outstanding debts, see if bills are paid timely and to determine the impact on cash flow.
Information on your credit report is strictly confidential and is used only as an aid in conducting FSA business.
Our farm loan staff will discuss options with you if you have an unfavorable credit report and will provide a copy of your report. If you dispute the accuracy of the information on the credit report, it is up to you to contact the issuing credit report company to resolve any errors or inaccuracies.
There are multiple ways to remedy an unfavorable credit score:
- Make sure to pay bills on time
- Setting up automatic payments or automated reminders can be an effective way to remember payment due dates.
- Pay down existing debt
- Keep your credit card balances low
- Avoid suddenly opening or closing existing credit accounts
FSA’s farm loan staff will guide you through the process, which may require you to reapply for a loan after improving or correcting your credit report.
For more information on FSA farm loan programs, contact your local County USDA Service Center or visit fsa.usda.gov.
The USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) made several policy updates to acreage reporting and prevented planted acres.
Prevented Planted Acres
In order to certify prevented planted acreage due to drought, all of the following must apply:
- The area that is prevented from being planted has insufficient soil moisture for germination of seed on the final planting date for non-irrigated acreage
- Prolonged precipitation deficiencies that meet the D3 or D4 level as determined by the U.S. Drought Monitor
- Verifiable information must be collected from sources whose business or purpose is recording weather conditions as determined by FSA and the sources include, but are not limited to:
- U.S. National Weather Service
- Bureau of Reclamation
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
- National Institute of Food and Agriculture
- Natural Resources Conservation Service
- Local irrigation authorities responsible for water allocations
- State Department of Water Resources
- National Institute of Food and Agriculture
- Other sources responsible for the collection of water data or regulation of water resources (water allocations).
FSA reminds producers to report prevented planted and failed acres in order to establish or retain FSA program eligibility for some programs. You should report crop acreage you intended to plant, but due to natural disaster, were prevented from planting. Prevented planting acreage must be reported on form CCC-576, Notice of Loss, no later than 15 calendar days after the final planting date as established by FSA and the Risk Management Agency (RMA).
Late-Filed Acreage Reports
FSA can now accept late-filed acreage reports without a field visit if the producer can provide proof of existence, including specific acres of the crop, and disposition. Producers are required to pay the late filed fee.
Proof of existence of the crop includes, but is not limited to:
- seed receipts showing the amount, variety, and date purchased;
- receipts for cleaning, treating, etc., for seed planted on the farm;
- a written contract or documentation of an oral contract to produce a specific crop;
- evidence that was accepted and approved by the RMA or another USDA agency;
- precision planting, spraying, or harvesting geospatial data or maps;
- drone photos with location and notable physical boundaries;
- other aerial or ground imagery with the ability to determine date, acres, and crop.
Proof of disposition of the crop includes, but is not limited to:
- receipts showing number and units sold if the sale can be positively identified as sale of the crop for the farm for the year represented;
- a written contract or documentation of an oral contract to produce a specific crop;
- records showing the crop was fed to livestock;
- documentation of payment for custom harvesting indicating acreage, location, and crop year;
- evidence that was accepted and approved by another USDA agency.
If you want to use the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) organic price and you select the "organic" option on your NAP application, you must report your crops as organic.
When certifying organic acres, the buffer zone acreage must be included in the organic acreage.
You must also provide a current organic plan, organic certificate or documentation from a certifying agent indicating an organic plan is in effect. Documentation must include:
- name of certified individuals
- address
- telephone number
- effective date of certification
- certificate number
- list of commodities certified
- name and address of certifying agent
- a map showing the specific location of each field of certified organic, including the buffer zone acreage
Certification exemptions are available for producers whose annual gross agricultural income from organic sales totals $5,000 or less. Although exempt growers are not required to provide a written certificate, they are still required to provide a map showing the specific location of each field of certified organic, transitional, and buffer zone acreage.
For questions about reporting organic crops, contact your local county USDA Service Center.
USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) celebrated 25 years of the agency’s popular Farm Storage Facility Loan Program (FSFL) this May. For a quarter century, family-owned agricultural operations have received low-interest financing through the program to enhance or expand their operations and manage marketing of the commodities they produce by building or upgrading permanent and portable storage facilities and purchasing needed handling equipment.
The FSFL program was created in May 2000 to address existing on-farm grain storage needs. Since the program’s inception, more than 40,000 loans have been issued for on-farm storage, increasing storage capacity by one billion bushels. While many producers primarily associate the program with grain storage, over the past 25 years the eligible storage has expanded to include a wide variety of facilities and related equipment - new or used and permanent or portable - including hay barns, bulk tanks, and facilities for cold storage. Drying, handling and storage equipment is also eligible, including skid steers and storage and handling trucks.
Eligibility
Eligible commodities for storage loans include grains, oilseeds, peanuts, pulse crops, hay, hemp, honey, renewable biomass commodities, fruits and vegetables, floriculture, hops, seed cotton, wool, maple sap, maple syrup, milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, eggs, unprocessed meat and poultry, rye and aquaculture. Most recently, controlled atmosphere storage was added as an eligible facility and bison meat has been also added to the list of eligible commodities.
FSFL is an excellent financing program to address on-farm storage and handling needs for small and mid-sized farms, and for new farmers. Loan terms vary from three to 12 years. The maximum loan amount for storage facilities is $500,000. The maximum loan amount for storage and handling trucks is $100,000.
In 2016, FSA introduced a new storage loan category, the microloan, for loans with an aggregate balance up to $50,000. Microloans offer a 5% down payment requirement, compared to a 15% down payment for a regular FSFL, and microloans waive the regular three-year production history requirement.
How to apply
Loan applications should be filed in the administrative FSA county office that maintains a producer’s farm records. Producers can contact their FSA County Office to make an appointment. Beginning farmers who haven’t worked with FSA can visit farmers.gov/your-business/beginning-farmers for more information or view the New Farmers Fact Sheet.
For more information, visit the FSFL webpage, view the fact sheet and our Ask the Expert Blog, or contact your FSA County Office.
FSA encourages you to be proactive in preventing the spread of wildfire. If you participate in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), you are responsible for fire management on your CRP acreage. The goal is to suppress the amount of fuel in the event of a wildfire while still promoting the diversity of the conservation cover.
One fire management practice includes installing firebreaks, which should be included in the contract support document and installed according to NRCS firebreak standards. Barren firebreaks will only be allowed in high-risk areas, such as transportation corridors, rural communities, and adjacent farmsteads. A conservationist must certify that there will not be an erosion hazard from the barren firebreak. If erosion becomes a problem, remedial action will be taken.
You must complete the necessary management activities outside of the Primary Nesting Season. In Illinois, the Primary Nesting Season is April 15th through August 1st for grazing benefits and all other activities. Remember that fireguard technical practices should be outlined in your Conservation Plan of Operations (CPO).
The Emergency Forest Restoration Program (EFRP) provides technical and financial assistance to owners of nonindustrial private forestland whose forestland was damaged by a qualifying natural disaster event.
EFRP can provide crucial assistance to producers after a natural disaster, but there are a few “myths” about the program that we want to dispel.
Myth: EFRP assists landowners with removal of a dead or damaged tree in their yard.
Fact: EFRP helps with the removal of dead or damaged trees as part of a reforestation project and must be on land that meets the definition of nonindustrial private forestland, is at least 120 feet wide, one acre in size, and at least 10% covered by live trees of any size. If the landowner’s yard does not meet these criteria, then the land is not eligible for EFRP. EFRP requires a landowner to incur at least $1,000 in forest restoration costs to be eligible for assistance. (Minimum restoration costs may be set at a higher level by the FSA State Committee). Finally, eligible forestland must have damage to natural resources caused by the natural disaster event that, if not treated, would impair natural resources on the land and materially affect the future use of the land. For example, damage to natural resources on nonindustrial private forestland could include trees that have died or were damaged by the natural disaster event and where it’s determined that removal and restoration is needed to restore forest health and future use of the land.
To read the full blog visit farmers.gov/blog/myth-busters-learn-facts-about-emergency-forest-restoration-program.
The other members of the team are Champions. They help Kevin respond to questions, provide support to county offices and plan outreach events specifically for beginning farmers and ranchers. Your Illinois Champions are: Aaron Patrick a Public Affairs Specialist with NRCS, Jessica Heyen a Risk Management Specialist with RMA, and Brittany Goforth a Business Programs Specialist with RD.
For more beginning farmer and rancher resources, visit the website at www.farmers.gov/newfarmers.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA) approved changes to improve insurance coverage for American livestock producers. These updates will take effect for the Livestock Risk Protection (LRP), Livestock Gross Margin (LGM), and Dairy Revenue Protection (DRP) insurance programs beginning with the 2026 crop year.
Livestock Risk Protection
LRP provides protection for livestock producers looking to insure against declining market prices. This program offers coverage levels ranging from 70% to 100% of the “expected ending values” (expected price at the end of the insurance period).
The changes to LRP include:
- Modifying the termination date to Sept. 30 and the premium billing date to the first day of the second month after the end date of endorsement.
- Adding two new types of LRP coverage:
- Feeder Cattle - Unborn Calves will provide coverage for beef or beef/dairy cross calves sold within two weeks after birth.
- Fed Cattle - Cull Cows will provide coverage for dairy cull cows with a coverage limitation of 13 weeks.
- Allowing coverage based on a forward contract or purchase agreement.
- Additional record requirement includes a copy of the purchase agreement and proof of delivery.
- Adding drought exemption for Feeder Cattle that will be based on the Drought Monitor’s Drought Severity and Coverage Index (DSCI).
- Adding additional record requirements for Feeder Cattle:
- Applicable when livestock are purchased and not marketed within 60 days of the end date.
- The sex of the feeder cattle must be verified in the marketing or purchase records.
Livestock Gross Margin
LGM provides protection to cattle, dairy and swine producers against unexpected decreases in gross margin (market value of livestock or milk minus input costs). The program calculates the expected gross margin for a period using future market prices and pays an indemnity to the extent that the actual gross margin is less than the expected gross margin.
The changes to LGM include:
- Modifying the termination date to Aug. 31 and the premium billing date to the first day of the second month after the Specific Coverage Endorsement ended.
Dairy Revenue Protection
For dairy producers, DRP provides protection against a decline in revenue (yield and/or price) on the milk produced from dairy cows on a quarterly basis. The expected revenue is based on futures prices for milk and dairy commodities, and the amount of covered milk production elected by the dairy producer.
The changes to DRP include:
- Modifying the DRP termination date to Jan. 31 and the premium billing date to the first day of the third month after the end date of endorsement.
- Modifying the program to give additional flexibilities to producers impacted by an animal disease when they have suffered an eligible loss.
- RMA is increasing the minimum declarable butterfat test to 4.00 pounds, increasing maximum declarable butterfat test to 6.00 pounds and increasing minimum declarable protein test to 3.20 pounds.
More Information
LRP, LGM and DRP are available to livestock producers in all states and counties. Crop insurance is sold and delivered solely through private crop insurance agents. A list of crop insurance agents is available online at the RMA Agent Locator. Producers can learn more about crop insurance and the modern farm safety net at rma.usda.gov or by contacting their RMA Regional Office. RMA’s Basics for Beginners provides information for those new to crop insurance.
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.
 John Gehrke serves as the Farm Loan Chief for the IL Farm Service Agency, based out of the State Office in Springfield, Illinois. He has served in that capacity since 2017. He grew up on a Logan County grain farm and has a bachelor’s degree in Ag Business from Illinois State University. John performs a wide range of duties and responsibilities in directing FSA’s $2 billion portfolio of direct and guaranteed loans in Illinois. He also serves as the Agency’s environmental specialist.
FSA farm loan programs work with beginning farmers and those unable to obtain conventional credit. We provide direct loans in partnership with commercial lenders and guarantee loans with 170 agricultural lenders and both farm credit systems. Illinois FSA has helped 7000 Illinois farm families with 10,000 loans with a total portfolio of $2.4 billion.
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