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 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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