Logan County FSA Updates

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[March 12, 2021]     Logan County Service Center Currently Closed to Vistors - The Service Center in Logan County is currently closed to visitors because of the pandemic.

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) staff highly value the in-person work that we do with our customers, and we look forward to when we can resume. In the meantime, we will use phone, email, and online tools to ensure we are meeting our customers’ needs. Our virtual tools that better enable us to serve our customers include Microsoft Teams, for face-to-face meetings and Box and OneSpan to enable the sharing and signing of documents.

To make an appointment, call 217-735-5508.


CRP Seeding and Maintenance Activities

If you had a planned seeding or maintenance activity on your CRP acres, did you complete that activity already? If so, please contact us so that we can have you certify completion of the project. We will also need you to provide proof of completion which can include logs of activities completed along with invoices of seed and/or chemical purchased.



If you had a maintenance activity to complete such as mowing, burning, disking and spraying, it must be conducted outside the primary nesting or brood rearing season for wildlife, which for Illinois is April 15th through August 1st. However, spot treatment of the acreage may be allowed during the primary nesting or brood rearing season if, left untreated, the weeds, insects or undesirable species would adversely impact the approved cover. In this instance, spot treatment is limited to the affected areas in the field and requires County Committee approval prior to beginning the spot treatment. The County Committee will consult with NRCS to determine if such activities are needed to maintain the approved cover.

Cover maintenance is the participant’s responsibility without additional cost share assistance. Adequate cover needs to be maintained, noxious weeds controlled, and undesirable vegetation, insects, etc need to be controlled. Failure to establish and/or maintain appropriate cover on CRP will result in reductions of annual payments or complete termination of contract with refunds of all payments received.

CRP acreage is now spot checked by NRCS personnel 2 to 3 times during the length of the contract.

It is best to discuss all activities on CRP land with FSA or NRCS to ensure adherence to the terms of Logan County FSA office at 217-735-5508.


March 15 Deadline to Complete Election & Enrollment for 2021 Agriculture Risk Coverage, Price Loss Coverage Programs

Agricultural producers who have not yet elected and enrolled in the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) or Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs for 2021 have until March 15, 2020. Producers who have not signed a contract or who want to make an election change should contact their local U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Service Center to make an appointment. Right now, about 1.4 million farms have enrolled, about 81% of expected participation.

“In times like these, from winter storms to a pandemic, we’re reminded of the importance of managing risk,” said Zach Ducheneaux, Administrator of USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA). “The Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs provide critical support to farmers to protect them from substantial drops in crop prices or revenues. If you have not enrolled or made elections, please do so by the March 15, 2020 deadline.”

Producers who enrolled for the 2019 crop year received more than $5 billion in payments last fall. If an ARC or PLC payment triggers for a particular crop for the 2021 crop year and there is no signed 2021 contract on file, then the producer is ineligible for that program payment.

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Producers are eligible to enroll farms with base acres for the following commodities: barley, canola, large and small chickpeas, corn, crambe, flaxseed, grain sorghum, lentils, mustard seed, oats, peanuts, dry peas, rapeseed, long grain rice, medium- and short-grain rice, safflower seed, seed cotton, sesame, soybeans, sunflower seed and wheat.

Decision Tools

To help producers make elections, FSA makes program data available to help producers make ARC and PLC decisions.

Additionally, USDA partnered with universities to offer web-based decision tools:

Gardner-farmdoc Payment Calculator, the University of Illinois tool that offers farmers the ability to run payment estimates modeling for their farms and counties for ARC-County and PLC.

ARC and PLC Decision Tool, the Texas A&M tool that allows producers to analyze payment yield updates and expected payments for 2019 and 2020.

Crop Insurance Considerations

Producers are reminded that enrolling in ARC or PLC programs can impact eligibility for some crop insurance products offered by USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA). Producers who elect and enroll in PLC also have the option of purchasing Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) through their Approved Insurance Provider, but producers of covered commodities who elect ARC are ineligible for SCO on their planted acres.

Unlike SCO, RMA’s Enhanced Coverage Option (ECO) is unaffected by participating in ARC for the same crop, on the same acres. You may elect ECO regardless of your farm program election.

Upland cotton farmers who choose to enroll seed cotton base acres in ARC or PLC are ineligible for the stacked income protection plan, or STAX, on their planted cotton acres.



More Information

For more information on ARC and PLC, visit farmers.gov/arc-plc.

While USDA offices are closed to visitors because of the pandemic, Service Center staff continue to work with agricultural producers via phone, email, and other digital tools. To conduct business, please contact your local USDA Service Center. Additionally, more information related to USDA’s response and relief for producers can be found at farmers.gov/coronavirus.

Logan County Farm Service Agency
1650 5th Street Road
Lincoln, Illinois 62656

Phone: 217-735-5508
Fax: 855-693-7125

County Executive Director:
Sara Bateson

Farm Loan Manager:
Brittany Branson

Program Technicians:
Connie Cowan
Ann Curry
Tammy Edwards
Katie Hanger
Chelsie Peddicord
Danielle Young

County Committee:
Kenton Stoll - Chairman
Dennis Ramlow - Vice-Chair
Jerry Schmidt - Member
Kathy Wilham - Advisor

Next County Committee Meeting: March 25, 2021 @ 8:30 a.m.

Persons with disabilities who require accommodations to attend or participate in this meeting should contact Sara Bateson at 217-735-5508 or Federal Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339.
 

 

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