West River Eagle

USDA News: Keeping you informed


The Corson, Dewey, Meade, Perkins, and Ziebach County FSA offices would like to keep you informed of the following items important to USDA programs.  If you have any questions please contact the Corson County office at 605-273-4506 ext 2, Dewey County office at 865-3522 ext 2, Meade County at 347-4952 ext 2, Perkins at 244-5222 ext 2 or Ziebach County at 365-5179 ext 2.

DATES TO REMEMBER:

NOTICE OF LOSS:  REPORT LOSS WITHIN 15 DAYS OF OCCURRENCE ALL CROPS AND GRASSES

LIVESTOCK LOSSES:  FILE NOTICE OF LOSS THE EARLIER OF 30 CALENDAR DAYS OF WHEN THE LOSS WAS APPARENT

March 16 – deadline to obtain NAP coverage

March 16 – deadline to make ’19 Farm Program (ARC/PLC) election

March 16 – CRP Grassland signup begins

March 23 – Whip+ signup begins

March 30 – CRP Soil Health and Income Protection Program SHIPP signup begins

March 31 – deadline to obtain Marketing Assistance Loan on 2019 crop wheat, oats, barley

May 15 – CRP Grassland signup ends

May 31 – deadline to obtain Marketing Assistance Loan on 2019 crop corn, sunflowers, grain sorghum, soybeans

June 30 – Deadline to make 2020 Farm Program (ARC/PLC) election

July 15 – Deadline to report 2020 acreage report

July 15 – Deadline to report 2019 crop production for NAP

August 21 – CRP Soil Health and Income Protection Program SHIPP signup ends

September 30 – Deadline to update PLC yields

*IMPORTANT NOTICE*  THE ZIEBACH COUNTY OFFICE WILL BE SHORT STAFFED MARCH 18, 2020 THROUGH MARCH 24, 2020.  PLEASE CALL THE OFFICE TO SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT  365-5179.

USDA Opens Signup March 23 for Added Causes of Loss Under WHIP+ and Announces Disaster Assistance for Sugar Beet Producers

USDA announced additional disaster assistance available to agricultural producers, including producers impacted by drought and excess moisture as well as sugar beet growers. Through WHIP+, USDA is helping producers recover from losses related to 2018 and 2019 natural disasters.

USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) will open signup on March 23 for producers to apply for eligible losses of drought (D3 or above) and excess moisture. USDA is also entering into agreements with six sugar beet processing cooperatives to distribute $285 million to grower members of those cooperatives who experienced loss.

In June 2019, more than $3 billion was made available through a disaster relief package passed by Congress and signed by President Trump.  In December 2019, Congress passed, and President Trump signed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020 that provides an additional $1.5 billion for the continuation of disaster assistance program delivery.

WHIP+ New Qualifying Disaster Events

The bill added excessive moisture and D3 and D4 drought as qualifying losses for WHIP+ assistance.

Beginning March 23, producers who suffered either of these types of loss in 2018 and/or 2019 can apply for WHIP+ assistance at their local FSA office. For drought, a producer is eligible if any area of the county in which the loss occurred was rated D3 (Extreme Drought) or higher on the U.S. Drought Monitor during calendar years 2018 or 2019.

WHIP+ Sugar Beet Loss Assistance

As also directed in the bill, USDA will provide $285 million through sugar beet processing cooperatives to compensate grower members for sugar beet crop losses in 2018 and 2019. Details will be finalized in agreements between USDA and participating sugar beet processing cooperatives. Sugar beet producers who are members of these cooperatives and experienced losses may contact their cooperative for more information about how this sugar beet crop assistance will be administered.

WHIP+ for Quality Loss

In addition, producers have reported widespread crop quality loss from eligible disaster events that results in price deductions or penalties when marketing the damaged crops. The Appropriations bill expands WHIP+ to include assistance for crop quality loss. FSA is gathering data and input from producers and stakeholders regarding the extent and types of quality loss nationwide.

Eligibility

To be eligible for WHIP+, producers must have suffered losses of certain crops, trees, bushes, or vines in counties with a Presidential Emergency Disaster Declaration or a Secretarial Disaster Designation (primary counties only) for the following named natural disaster events; hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, typhoons, volcanic activity, snowstorms, wildfires, and now excessive moisture that occurred in 2018 or 2019. Also, losses located in a county not designated by the Secretary as a primary county may be eligible if the producer provides documentation showing that the loss was due to a qualifying natural disaster event.

For drought, counties having a D3 or D4 Drought Monitor classification in any portion of the county anytime during calendar year 2018 or 2019 will also be eligible.

A list of counties that received qualifying hurricane declarations and designations is available at farmers.gov/recover/whip-plus. The U.S. Drought Monitor is available at droughtmonitor.unl.edu/.

Because livestock losses are covered by other disaster recovery programs offered through FSA, these losses are not eligible for WHIP+.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender.  To file a complaint of discrimination, write:  USDA, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, DC 20250-9410, or call (866) 632-9992 or (toll-free Customer Service), (800) 877-8339 (local or Federal relay), (866) 377-8642 (Relay voice users).

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