Agricultural producers in Nebraska who have not yet completed their crop acreage reports after planting should make an appointment with their U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) service center as soon as possible ahead of the upcoming July 17 deadline.
“Many USDA programs require producers to file an accurate crop acreage report by the applicable deadline,” said Tim Divis, FSA acting state executive director in Nebraska. “Most of our planting is complete across the state, so we are asking producers to call their local FSA office to make an acreage reporting appointment, if they don’t already have one scheduled.”
An acreage report documents a crop grown on a farm or ranch and its intended uses. Filing an accurate and timely acreage report for all crops and land uses, including failed acreage and prevented planted acreage, can prevent the loss of benefits, Divis said.
The deadline for acreage certification is July 17, 2023. This includes common spring-planted crops, such as corn, soybeans, dry edible beans and sugar beets, but also includes Conservation Reserve Program acres and perennial grass, such as pastures.
“We are asking producers to pay close attention to communications from their county FSA office as it may have processes in place to facilitate the completion of acreage reports, including specific timelines to return maps,” Divis said.
Producers also should report crop acreage they intended to plant, but due to natural disaster, were unable to plant. Prevented planting acreage must be reported on form CCC-576, Notice of Loss, no later than 15 calendar days after the final planting date as established by FSA and USDA’s Risk Management Agency.
Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) policy holders should note that the acreage reporting date for NAP-covered crops is the earlier of the date listed above or 15 calendar days before grazing or harvesting of the crop begins.
FSA offers continuous certification for perennial forage. This means after perennial forage is reported once and the producer elects continuous certification, the certification remains in effect until a change is made. Check with FSA at the local USDA Service Center for more information on continuous certification.
Option to View, Print and Label Maps on Farmers.gov
Producers can access their FSA farm records, maps and common land units through the farmers.gov portal. Through a new mapping feature, producers can import and view other shapefiles, such as precision agriculture planting boundaries. This allows producers to view, save, print and label their own maps for acreage reporting purposes. To access mapping features and other helpful on-line tools, producers need level 2 eAuth access linked to their Business Partner customer record. Visit farmers.gov/account to learn how to create a farmers.gov account.
Video tutorials, including how to use mapping tools, are available on the farmers.gov YouTube channel. Learn more about a farmers.gov account.
Producers can make an appointment to report acres by contacting their local USDA Service Center.