New Jersey USDA Newsletter - July 2025
The USDA Wishes You and Your Families a
Happy Independence Day!
USDA offices will be closed on Friday, July 4th in celebration.
In this issue:
After spring planting is complete, agricultural producers should make an appointment with your local County Farm Service Agency (FSA) to complete crop acreage reports before the applicable deadline.
How to File a Report
A crop acreage report documents a crop grown on a farm or ranch, its intended use and location. Producers should file an accurate crop acreage report for all crops and land uses, including failed acreage and prevented planted acreage before the applicable deadline. Producers are encouraged to file their acreage reports as soon as planting is completed.
The following acreage reporting dates are still applicable in New Jersey for 2025:
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July 15 - Soybeans, Corn and Other Spring Planted Feed Grains, Perennial Forage, CRP, Hemp & Most Other Crops, including fruits and vegetables
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August 15 - Processing Beans
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September 15 - Planting Period 2 Cabbage (Atlantic Co Only)
To file a crop acreage report, producers need to provide:
- Crop and crop type or variety
- Intended crop use
- Number of crop acres
- Map with approximate crop boundaries
- Planting date(s)
- Planting pattern, when applicable
- Producer share(s)
- Irrigation practice(s)
- Acreage prevented from planting, when applicable
- Other required information
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 Acreage Reporting Details
The following exceptions apply to acreage reporting dates:
- If the crop has not been planted by the acreage reporting deadline, then the acreage must be reported no later than 15 calendar days after planting is completed.
- If a producer acquires additional acreage after the acreage reporting deadline, then the acreage must be reported no later than 30 calendar days after purchase or acquiring the lease. Appropriate documentation must be provided to the county office.
Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) policy holders should note that the acreage reporting date for NAP-covered crops is the acreage reporting date or 15 calendar days before grazing or crop harvesting begins, whichever is earlier.
Producers with perennial forage crops should check with their local FSA office to see if their crops are eligible for continuous certification, which rolls the certified acreage forward each year until a change is made.
Prevented Planted Acreage
Producers should also report the crop acreage they intended to plant but were unable to because of a natural disaster, including drought. Prevented planted 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 USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA).
Farmers.gov Portal
Producers can access their FSA farm records, maps, and common land units through the farmers.gov customer portal. The portal allows producers to export field boundaries as shapefiles and import and view other shapefiles, such as precision agriculture boundaries within farm records mapping. Producers can view, print and label their maps for acreage reporting purposes. A login.gov account that is linked to a USDA customer record is required to use the portal.
Producers can visit farmers.gov/account to learn more about creating an account. Producers who have the authority to act on behalf of another customer as a grantee via an FSA-211 Power of Attorney form, Business Partner Signature Authority or as a member of a business with signature authority can now access information for the business in the farmers.gov portal.
Electronic Geospatial Acreage Reporting
Acreage reports using precision agriculture planting boundaries can be filed electronically with an approved insurance provider or an authorized third-party provider, who will then share the file with FSA staff. Producers should notify their local FSA office if they submitted an electronic geospatial acreage report containing precision planting boundaries that they want to use as part of their FSA acreage report.
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) is now accepting nominations for county committee members and encourages all farmers, ranchers, and FSA program participants to take part in the County Committee election nomination process.
Elections will occur in certain Local Administrative Areas (LAA) for members. LAAs are elective areas for FSA committees in a single county or multi-county jurisdiction. For New Jersey Counties, please visit our state website to see which LAAs are up for election at https://www.fsa.usda.gov/state-offices/new-jersey. Customers can identify which LAA they or their farming or ranching operation is in by using our GIS locator tool available at fsa.usda.gov/elections.
County committee members make important decisions about how Federal farm programs are administered locally. All nomination forms for the 2025 election must be postmarked or received in the local FSA office by Aug. 1, 2025.
Agricultural producers who participate or cooperate in a USDA program and reside in the LAA that is up for election this year, may be nominated for candidacy for the county committee. A cooperating producer is someone who has provided information about their farming or ranching operation to FSA, even if they have not applied or received program benefits.
Individuals may nominate themselves or others and qualifying organizations may also nominate candidates. USDA encourages minority producers, women, and beginning farmers or ranchers to nominate, vote and hold office.
Nationwide, more than 7,700 dedicated members of the agricultural community serve on FSA county committees. The committees are made up of 3 to 11 members who serve three-year terms. Committee members are vital to how FSA carries out disaster programs, as well as conservation, commodity and price support programs, county office employment and other agricultural issues.
For more information on FSA county committee elections, including fact sheets, nomination forms and FAQs, visit fsa.usda.gov/elections.
NRCS is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. We began our celebration by posting a blog and an interactive timeline about NRCS history and a video about how we’ve helped farmers over the years. We’ve also been sharing some historical photos on social media that show how our mission has changed and stayed the same over the years.
Now, we’d like for you to join us in our celebration. We’d like to hear your stories and see photos of your operation – Then and Now.
Does your agricultural operation have a fascinating history you’d like to share? Are there interesting stories about how your operation came to be or how it’s evolved? Do you have photos of your operation from its beginnings to the present day? If so, we want to hear from you!
This summer, we want to highlight how things have changed on your operation over the years in our #ThenAndNow campaign on NRCS and FarmersGov social media.
Here’s how to participate:
- Find a few historical photos of your operation from when it began - Then.
- Using your smartphone or digital camera, take photos of your operation - Now.
- In a few sentences, tell us: how has your operation changed over the years? How has it expanded, modernized equipment and practices, or transformed with conservation?
- Include your name, the location of your operation, and links to any social media accounts you manage to promote your operation.
- Submit the above to SM.FPAC.NRCS.Facebook@usda.gov by Friday, August 1, 2025.
Please note that by submitting your photo/video, you are granting USDA permission to use these materials for outreach and education purposes.
Follow NRCS on X and Facebook, and FarmersGov on Facebook, X , and Instagram. We look forward to seeing and sharing your stories!
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 Although farmers have been taking a limited deduction for the residual fertilizer purchased along with their farmland for many years, a push to extend and expand this practice beyond the traditional approach has been growing. In this webinar, Kristine Tidgren and Kristiana Coutu review the applicable law and the many questions that remain unanswered with respect to this deduction. They also remind those acquiring land about the risk associated with taking unreasonable positions on a tax return.
Event: Excess Fertility Deductions and the Farm
Date: July 10, 2025
Time: 1:00 – 2:30pm Eastern
Presenter: Kristine Tidgren and Kristiana Coutu, Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation at Iowa State University
Register Here.
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The Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) provides financial assistance to producers of non-insurable crops when low yields, loss of inventory, or prevented planting occur due to natural disasters and other damaging weather events.
To receive payment, you had to purchase NAP coverage for 2025 crops and file a notice of loss within 15 days of the occurrence of the disaster or when losses become apparent or within 15 days of the final harvest date, which ever is earlier.
For hand-harvested crops and certain perishable crops, you must notify FSA within 72 hours of when a loss becomes apparent.
Eligible crops must be commercially produced agricultural commodities for which crop insurance is not available, including perennial grass forage and grazing crops, fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, floriculture, ornamental nursery, aquaculture, turf grass, ginseng, honey, syrup, bioenergy, and industrial crops.
For more information on NAP, contact your local USDA Service Center or visit fsa.usda.gov/nap.
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 The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced the launch of the Debt Consolidation Tool, an innovative online tool available through that allows agricultural producers to enter their farm operating debt and evaluate the potential savings that might be provided by obtaining a debt consolidation loan with USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) or a local lender.
A debt consolidation loan is a new loan used to pay off other existing operating loans or lines of credit that might have unreasonable rates and terms. By combining multiple eligible debts into a single, larger loan, borrowers may obtain more favorable payment terms such as a lower interest rate or lower payments. Consolidating debt may also provide farmers and ranchers additional cash flow flexibilities.
The Debt Consolidation Tool is a significant addition to FSA’s suite of improvements designed to modernize its Farm Loan Programs. The tool enhances customer service and increases opportunities for farmers and ranchers to achieve financial viability by helping them identify potential savings that could be reinvested in their farming and ranching operation, retirement accounts, or college savings accounts.
Producers can access the Debt Consolidation Tool by visiting . The tool is built to run on modern browsers including Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or the Safari browser. Producers do not need to create a farmers.gov account or access the authenticated customer portal to use the tool.
USDA encourages producers to reach out to their local FSA farm loan staff to ensure they fully understand the wide range of loan and servicing options available to assist with starting, expanding, or maintaining their agricultural operation. To conduct business with FSA, please contact your local .
FSA Offers Loan Servicing Options
There are other options for Farm Service Agency (FSA) loan customers during financial stress. If you are a borrower who is unable to make payments on a loan, contact your local FSA Farm Loan Manager to learn about your options.
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Each year, state committees review and approve or disapprove county committee recommended changes or additions to specific combinations of crops.
Double-cropping is approved when two specific crops have the capability to be planted and carried to maturity for the intended use, as reported by the producer, on the same acreage within a crop year under normal growing conditions. The specific combination of crops recommended by the county committee must be approved by the state committee.
Double-cropping is approved in New Jersey on a county-by-county basis. Click here for a list of approved double-cropping combinations for your county.
A crop following a cover crop terminated according to termination guidelines is approved double cropping and these combinations do not have to be approved by the state committee.
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USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (866) 632-9992 (Toll-free Customer Service), (800) 877-8339 (Local or Federal relay), (866) 377-8642 (Relay voice users).
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