Wisconsin Farm Service Agency- September 2025
In This Issue:
It’s hard to believe that fall is here, but the chill in the air proves that the seasons are definitely changing. Fall is a favorite time of year in Wisconsin— back to school, apples and fall leaves, or high school and college football. Of course, fall also means that the demands of harvest season are coming, and combines are being readied across the state. This year, fall also brings the possibility of a World Series played in Milwaukee. Stay tuned…
With predictions of possible record yields in our state, I want to highlight FSA’s marketing assistance loan (MAL) program. This is a handy tool that gives producers marketing flexibility to sell their crops when prices are more favorable, and also frees up cash in the short term. MALs are a short-term loan on eligible commodities with terms up to nine months, using the harvested commodity as collateral. MALs are repaid at the lesser of the loan rate plus interest or the posted county price. Producers can also forfeit the commodity as full payment for the loan at maturity.
FSA farm loan staff continues to see strong interest in our direct and guaranteed ownership and operating loan products, which are offered with flexible terms and favorable loan rates. We also continue to see interest in the Farm Storage Facility Loans, which offer favorable terms on loans for building or upgrading storage and handling facilities.
To date, our dedicated staff has delivered around $315 million in natural disaster recovery and economic loss assistance to Wisconsin farmers and livestock producers through the Emergency Commodity Assistance, Emergency Livestock Relief and Supplemental Disaster Relief programs with more assistance to come.
My travels have taken me in every direction across the state to meet with FSA office staff and County Committees. What I hear consistently from our FSA staff is the high value they place on customer service. Our priority is to ensure that our producers have access to the most timely and accurate information available, and that your applications are processed quickly and accurately. That is FSA putting “Farmers First.” in action, on a daily basis.
Sandy Chalmers
State Executive Director, Wisconsin FSA
September 22–23, 2025: Wisconsin Schools of Grazing at the Lancaster Ag Research Station
October 13, 2025: USDA Service Centers closed in observance of Columbus Day
November 11, 2025: USDA Service Center closed in observance of Veterans Day
November 17, 2025: Acreage reporting deadline for Fall Mint and Fall-Seeded Small Grains
Current loan rates as of September 1, 2025.
Please visit the Farm Loan Program webpage for more information.
Farm Loan Interest Rates:
| Farm Operating - Direct |
4.875% |
| Farm Operating - Microloan |
4.875% |
| Farm Ownership - Direct |
5.875% |
| Farm Ownership - Microloan |
5.875% |
| Farm Ownership - Direct, Joint Financing |
3.875% |
| Farm Ownership - Down Payment |
1.875% |
| Emergency - Amount of Actual Loss |
3.750% |
Farm Storage Facility Loans (FSFL):
| 3-year FSFL |
3.750% |
| 5-year FSFL |
3.875% |
| 7-year FSFL |
4.000% |
| 10-year FSFL |
4.375% |
| 12-year FSFL |
4.500% |
Wisconsin FSA is cleaning up our producer record database and we need your help. Please report any changes of address, zip code, phone number, email address or an incorrect name or business name on file to your county office.
You should also report changes in your farm operation, like the addition of a farm by lease or purchase. Other things to report include any changes to your operation in which you reorganize to form a Trust, LLC or other legal entity, the sale of any land, any terminated leases, or any ownership changes in land you currently lease.
FSA and NRCS program participants are required to promptly report changes in their farming operation to the County Committee in writing and to update their Farm Operating Plan on form CCC-902.
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)
- Excessive moisture
- Qualifying drought
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.
In this Ask the Expert, Tina Mellinger answers questions about Farm Service Agency (FSA) Youth Loans. Tina is a Farm Loan Manager in Ohio and has worked for FSA for 37 years. Her FSA farm loan team makes an average of around 50 loans each year, with around five of those being Youth Loans. Her entire career has been centered around loan-making. At the beginning of her career, she worked for Rural Development making home loans.
Tina grew up on a 50-cow dairy farm in southeastern Ohio. She earned an animal science and ag education degree from the Ohio State University.
To read the full blog, visit farmers.gov/blog/ask-expert-qa-on-youth-loans-with-tina-mellinger.
When natural disasters occur, USDA is here to support your operation as you recover. Disaster assistance program payments provide critical support and peace of mind following an extreme weather event, but there are also tax considerations producers should keep in mind. If your farm experiences a disaster there may be special tax provisions that apply to you that are known as “casualty losses”.
USDA has partnered with experts to bring producers important tax information on farm tax topics. In the first of a two-part Ask the Expert series on taxes and dealing with disasters, Dr. Tamara Cushing answers questions about defining and determining casualty losses for tax purposes.
Learn how USDA disaster payments may impact your taxes.
Marketing Assistance Loans (MALs) and Loan Deficiency Payments (LDPs) provide financing and marketing assistance for wheat, feed grains, soybeans, and other oilseeds, pulse crops, rice, peanuts, cotton, wool and honey. MALs provide you with interim financing after harvest to help you meet cash flow needs without having to sell your commodities when market prices are typically at harvest-time lows. A producer who is eligible to obtain a loan, but agrees to forgo the loan, may obtain an LDP if such a payment is available. Marketing loan provisions and LDPs are not available for sugar and extra-long staple cotton.
FSA is now accepting requests for 2025 MALs and LDPs for all eligible commodities after harvest. Requests for loans and LDPs shall be made on or before the final availability date for the respective commodities.
Commodity certificates are available to loan holders who have outstanding nonrecourse loans for wheat, upland cotton, rice, feed grains, pulse crops (dry peas, lentils, large and small chickpeas), peanuts, wool, soybeans and designated minor oilseeds. These certificates can be purchased at the posted county price (or adjusted world price or national posted price) for the quantity of commodity under loan, and must be immediately exchanged for the collateral, satisfying the loan. MALs redeemed with commodity certificates are not subject to Adjusted Gross Income provisions.
To be considered eligible for an LDP, you must have form CCC-633EZ, Page 1 on file at your local FSA Office before losing beneficial interest in the crop. Pages 2, 3 or 4 of the form must be submitted when payment is requested.
Marketing loan gains (MLGs) and loan deficiency payments (LDPs) are no longer subject to payment limitations, actively engaged in farming and cash-rent tenant rules.
Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) provisions state that if your total applicable three-year average AGI exceeds $900,000, then you’re not eligible to receive an MLG or LDP. You must have a valid CCC-941 on file to earn a market gain of LDP. The AGI does not apply to MALs redeemed with commodity certificate exchange.
A key part of NRCS’s 90-year history was the establishment of the conservation planning process by Hugh Hammond Bennett. Bennett was the agency’s first chief and is considered the “father of soil conservation.” He believed in considering each farm’s unique conditions when developing a conservation plan.
A conservation plan is a document outlining the strategies and actions that should be taken to protect and manage natural resources on a specific area of land. It serves as a blueprint for achieving conservation goals. To develop a conservation plan, a conservation planner and the customer (farmer, rancher or landowner) collaborate during the conservation planning process.
Bennett believed that agency employees must walk the land with the customer and see their natural resource challenges and opportunities firsthand. Bennett also understood that natural resource concerns could not be treated in isolation; soil, water, air, plants, animals, and humans are all part of an integrated system that is inter-dependent.
Learn more about how conservation planning has evolved over the years.
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Wisconsin Farm Service Agency
8030 Excelsior Drive
Suite 100
Madison, WI 53717
Phone: 608-662-4422
State Executive Director
Sandy Chalmers
sandra.chalmers@usda.gov
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Deputy State Executive Director
Tyler Radke
tyler.radke@usda.gov
Farm Program Chief
Greg Biba
greg.biba@usda.gov
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Farm Loan Chief
Kristen Hibbard
kristen.hibbard@usda.gov
Farm Program Chief
John Palmer
john.palmer@usda.gov
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