Hello again!
And a warm welcome to the beautiful springtime weather! With spring planting around the corner, the Farm Service Agency encourages producers to report any prevented planting acreage or failed crop acreage that will not be brought to harvest to their local Farm Service Agency office.
Failed acreage must be reported to before destroying and replanting to allow time for a field check. It is very important that farmers report failed acreage that will not be brought to harvest to the Farm Service Agency office prior to destruction.
This simple act of insuring that failed acres are documented could be the determining factor in whether or not a farmer is eligible for future crop disaster program payments.
Prevented planting is the inability to plant crop acreage with proper equipment during the established planting period for the crop due to a natural disaster condition. Producers must be able to prove to the satisfaction of the Farm Service Agency County Committee that they intended to plant the crop acreage and that the crop could not be planted because of a natural disaster.
Prevented planting acreage should be reported as soon as possible after the ending planting date but not later than 15 calendar days after the Risk Management Agency established final plant date for the crop.
Form CCC-576, Notice of Loss, is used to report failed and prevented planting acreage and may be completed by any producer with an interest in the crop.
Producers with crop losses covered by the Non-insured Assistance Program must contact their local office within 15 days of the occurrence of the disaster or when losses become apparent.
Producers with crop insurance coverage should contact their local agent when losses occur and before destroying the crop.
Although low-yield acreage does not need to be reported to Farm Service Agency, producers are encouraged to keep good production records on acreage with a low crop yield to document crop losses.
If Congress authorizes a crop disaster program in the future, production records may help support crop loss claims.
Additional information in regard to failed crop acreage or crop losses covered by the Non-Insured Assistance Program can be obtained by contacting your local Farm Service Agency office. Program information is also available online at www.fsa.usda.gov.
That’s all for now,
FSA Andy
