Kentucky FSA Newsletter - September 2025
In This Issue:
It’s mid-September and combines are making their way across fields throughout many parts of the state. Dry conditions have definitely allowed for some good days of harvest but most everyone would still welcome some much-needed rain. Some parts of the state were fortunate enough to get some precipitation at the beginning of the month, and pastures have shown a bit of improvement. I am hearing the first reports of yields, and they are across the board. We’ll have to wait until further into the harvest season to see what our true averages are going to be.
Last month I mentioned the Marketing Assistance Loan (MAL) program and I would like to take another opportunity to encourage producers to inquire about this program. MALs can be a vital tool in your financial toolbox this year. For livestock producers that experienced forage losses due to flooding in 2023 and 2024, the Secretary recently announced disaster recovery assistance through the Emergency Livestock Relief Program for 2023 and 2024 Flood and Wildfire (ELRP 2023 and 2024 FW) to help offset increased supplemental feed costs due to a qualifying flood or qualifying wildfire in calendar years 2023 and 2024.
The Farm Service Agency is dedicated to serving our agricultural producers, no matter what you produce or the size of your operation. FSA staff welcome the opportunity to discuss which of our programs may be available for your agricultural operation. Our mission is to continue to put Farmers First. If you would like more information about any of our programs, please contact your local service center.
David Wayne, State Executive Director
Kentucky FSA
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U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced eligible livestock producers will receive disaster recovery assistance through the Emergency Livestock Relief Program for 2023 and 2024 Flood and Wildfire (ELRP 2023 and 2024 FW) to help offset increased supplemental feed costs due to a qualifying flood or qualifying wildfire in calendar years 2023 and 2024. The program is expected to provide approximately $1 billion in recovery benefits. Sign-up begins on Monday, September 15. Livestock producers have until October 31, 2025, to apply for assistance.
Qualifying Disaster Events
To streamline program delivery, FSA has determined eligible counties with qualifying floods and qualifying wildfires in 2023 and 2024. For losses in these counties, livestock producers are not required to submit supporting documentation for floods or wildfires. A list of approved counties is available at fsa.usda.gov/elrp.
For losses in counties not listed as eligible, livestock producers can apply for ELRP 2023 and 2024 FW but must provide supporting documentation to demonstrate that a qualifying flood or qualifying wildfire occurred in the county where the livestock were physically located or would have been physically located if not for the disaster event. FSA county committees will determine if the disaster event meets program requirements.
Acceptable documentation includes:
- Photographs documenting impact to livestock, land, or property
- Insurance documentation
- Emergency declaration reports
- News articles
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration storm event database records
- Other FSA disaster program participation records
- Other documentation determined acceptable by the FSA county committee
Livestock and Producer Eligibility
For ELRP 2023 and 2024 FW, FSA is using covered livestock criteria similar to the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) which includes weaned beef cattle, dairy cattle, beefalo, buffalo, bison, alpacas, deer, elk, emus, equine, goats, llamas, ostriches, reindeer, and sheep.
Wildfire assistance is available on non-federally managed land to participants who did not receive assistance through LFP or the ELRP 2023 and 2024 for drought and wildfire program delivered to producers in July of this year.
When producers submit their application, they must provide documentation to support eligible livestock inventories as of the beginning date of the qualifying disaster event.
Livestock producers can receive assistance for one or both years, 2023 and 2024, and for multiple qualifying disaster events, if applicable. However, producers cannot exceed three months of assistance per producer, physical location county, and program year.
Payment Calculation
Eligible producers can receive up to 60% of one month of calculated feed costs for a qualifying wildfire or three months for a qualifying flood using the same monthly feed cost calculation that is used for LFP.
ELRP 2023 and 2024 for drought and wildfire and ELRP 2023 and 2024 FW have a combined payment limit of $125,000 for each program year. Producers who already received the maximum payment amount from ELRP 2023 and 2024 for drought and wildfire will not be eligible to receive an additional payment under ELRP 2023 and 2024 FW. Eligible producers may submit form FSA-510, Request for an Exception to the $125,000 Payment Limitation for Certain Programs, to be considered for an increased payment limit of $250,000.
Supplemental Disaster Assistance Timeline
USDA is fully committed to expediting remaining disaster assistance provided by the American Relief Act, 2025. On May 7, we launched our 2023/2024 Supplemental Disaster Assistance public landing page where the status of USDA disaster assistance and block grant rollout timeline can be tracked. The page is updated regularly and accessible through fsa.usda.gov. Contact your local FSA county office for more information.
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced September 17, 2025 acceptance of 1.78 million acres into the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) through 2025 General, Continuous, Grassland, and Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program enrollments.
According to USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), about 25.8 million acres are currently enrolled in CRP, the agency’s flagship conservation program through which landowners, farmers and ranchers voluntarily convert marginal or unproductive cropland into vegetative cover that improves water quality, prevents erosion, restores wildlife habitat and in the case of Grassland CRP, enables participants to conserve grasslands while also continuing most grazing and haying practices.
FSA received offers on more than 2.6 million acres. The program’s total acreage is capped at 27 million acres for fiscal year 2025 of which 1.8 million was available for enrollment, after offsetting for expiring acres and an administrative reserve, making for a highly competitive process for those who submitted offers for CRP.
About 955,795 acres are expiring Sept. 30 this year. Producers submitted re-enrollment offers for just over 624,000 acres and offers for enrollment of new land totaled 2 million acres.
Kansas, South Dakota and Colorado hold the top three slots for accepted acres for all 2025 CRP enrollment opportunities.
The American Relief Act, 2025, extended provisions for CRP through Sept. 30, 2025.
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The USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) opened enrollment on July 10 for the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program (SDRP), which provides assistance for eligible crop losses due to natural disasters in 2023 and 2024.
Eligible U.S. Drought Monitor Losses
To qualify for drought related losses, the loss must have occurred in a county rated by the U.S. Drought Monitor as having a D2 (severe drought) for eight consecutive weeks, D3 (extreme drought), or greater intensity level during the applicable calendar year. View the list of counties eligible for SDRP due to qualifying drought for 2023 and 2024.
Other Eligible Disaster Events and Related Conditions
Producers who received an indemnity in 2023 or 2024 but did not qualify based on the U.S. Drought monitor may still be eligible for assistance. If your county did not trigger based on the U.S. Drought Monitor, do not certify “drought” as the cause of loss on your application as it will not be approved. Instead, producers should review all qualifying disaster events and related conditions such as excessive heat or excessive wind and select all applicable causes of loss.
Below is a list of all qualifying disaster events with the eligible related conditions in parentheses:
- Hurricanes (including related excessive wind, storm surges, tornadoes, tropical storms, and tropical depression)
- Floods (including related silt and debris)
- Derechos (including related excessive wind)
- Winter storms (including related blizzard and excessive wind)
- Freeze (including a polar vortex)
Related conditions must have occurred as a direct result of the indicated disaster event.
Losses due to Hail
Hail is not a qualifying disaster event, but you may be eligible if it was directly related to a qualifying disaster event.
For example, if a producer’s crop suffered damage from hail, but the hail damage was directly related to a tornado, then this would qualify for an SDRP payment since tornado is a qualifying disaster event.
Documentation for Spot Checks
Producers who certify that a qualifying disaster event caused the loss should be prepared to provide documentation to support their self-certification if they are selected for a spot check. Documentation is not required to be submitted with your application. Additionally, producers are not required to verify the cause of loss with their crop insurance agent.
Producers should complete the pre-filled application that was mailed on July 9. If you received a crop insurance indemnity in 2023 or 2024 and did not receive an application, please visit your local FSA office and they can print your pre-filled application.
For additional help with your application, please review the FSA-526 Instructions for Stage 1. Learn more about SDRP, eligibility and future insurance requirements by visiting fsa.usda.gov/sdrp.
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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 local service center or visit fsa.usda.gov.
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A farmers.gov account provides self-service opportunities to Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) customers through a secure, authenticated access process.
A new feature now provides access to your current or prior year FSA-578, Report of Commodities (Nationwide Producer Print). Your FSA-578 contains annual crop acreage reporting information submitted to USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA). If you are a shareholder (operator, owner or other producer) for a crop on the acreage report, you will be able to view, save and/or print your selected annual FSA-578.
How to Access Your FSA-578’s
From the Land tab in your farmers.gov account, click Land Overview on the navigation drop-down. On the Land Overview page, you will see an information block that states “View and Print Your Acreage Reports” containing a View Your FSA-578 button.
Clicking the button will open a popup modal with a drop-down menu to select the acreage report year. Once you have selected a year, the View FSA-578 button becomes active. Clicking the button will open a new tab with a message indicating the PDF file is being loaded. Once the load is complete, the FSA-578, Report of Commodities (Nationwide Producer Print) PDF document is displayed. You can view, save and/or print the FSA-578 as needed.
If there is no acreage report information on file for the selected acreage report year, the PDF will display the message, “This producer does not have a producer print currently available.”
How to Access FSA-578s Using Your Representative Authority to Act on Behalf of Another Customer
Additionally, if you have been granted the authority to act on behalf of another individual or entity, you can use the yellow banner to “Switch Profile” and view the current or prior year FSA-578, Report of Commodities (Nationwide Producer Print) for the customer you on whose behalf you have been elected to act.
Contact your local FSA office for more information or questions regarding your FSA-578, Report of Commodities (Nationwide Producer Print) or if you have questions regarding establishing representative authority or do not see the expected representative authority options when you log in.
More information can be found in the farmers.gov Fact Sheet and video tutorials. Visit the farmers.gov Account page to log in or learn how to create an account.
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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.
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Farm Loan Programs
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Farm Programs
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90-Day Treasury Bill
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4.375%
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Farm Storage Facility Loans
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3 Year
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3.75%
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Farm Operating Loans - Direct
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4.875%
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Farm Storage Facility Loans
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5 Year
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3.875%
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Farm Ownership Loans - Direct
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5.875%
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Farm Storage Facility Loans
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7 Year
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4.0%
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Limited Resource Loans
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5.000%
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Farm Storage Facility Loans
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10 Year
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4.375%
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Farm Ownership Loans - Direct FO Down Payment
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1.875%
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Farm Storage Facility Loans
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12 Year
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4.5%
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Emergency Loans
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3.750%
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Commodity Loans
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5.0%
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CCC Borrowing Rate
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4.0%
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Kentucky FSA State Office
771 Corporate Dr., Ste 205
Lexington, KY 40503
Phone: 859-224-7601
State Webpage
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Contact your local USDA Service Center for assistance with FSA loans or programs
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Kentucky FSA State Committee
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