by Megan Roberts, Extension educator
The United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) continues to announce additional programs to assist farmers. The farmers.gov website delivers the most up-to-date, accurate information on these programs, and we recommend farmers visit that site for timely releases. Some of these are COVID-19 related disaster programs, while others are ongoing risk management programs with regular sign-up periods.Today, I want to draw attention to the several programs currently accepting sign-ups.
CFAP 1 and 2
Announced on January 15, 2021, FSA will allow additional eligibility for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP 1 and CFAP 2) to farmers that may not have applied previously due to ineligibility, as well as offering additional retroactive payments for some producers that already received specific types of CFAP 1 and/or 2 payments. FSA identifies the following as the main adjustments to CFAP 1 and CFAP 2:
- Expanded Eligibility for CFAP 2,
- Updated Payment Calculations for CFAP 2, and
- CFAP 1 'Top-up’ Payments for Swine.
In regards to the new CFAP 1 & 2 rules, FSA said, "some of these changes are being made to align with the recently enacted Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 while others are discretionary changes being made in response to ongoing evaluation of CFAP."
ARC-PLC
Farmers of commodity crops should also be aware of the current sign up period for making elections and getting enrolled in the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs for the 2021 crop year. The 2018 Farm Bill enables producers to make annual selections for ARC-PLC beginning in 2021; this is a major change as compared to the 2014 Farm Bill. Recently, the University of Minnesota partnered with Minnesota FSA to offer 2021 Farm Bill education. I invite you to learn more about ARC-PLC program decision factors at z.umn.edu/farmbill2021. You can download presentation materials, watch a recording from our January 12, 2021 joint presentation with FSA, and download county-specific ARC-PLC comparisons.
Sign up periods
Important sign-up periods going on now at Farm Service Agency include:
- Coronavirus Food Assistance Program 2 (CFAP 2) retroactive adjustments and expanded eligibility (New!): January 19, 2021, to UPDATED INFO at least 30 days after the CFAP 2 regulatory review decision announcement,
- Livestock Forage Program (LFP): 2020 enrollment ongoing until February 1, 2021, note very few counties in Minnesota qualify for this program as it primarily affects the southwest United States,
- Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage Programs (ARC-PLC): October 13, 2020 to March 15, 2021,
- Quality Loss Assistance (QLA): January 6, 2021 to March 5, 2021, and
- Conservation Reserve Program (CRP): UPDATED INFO enrollment is now ongoing/continuous until further notice. There previously had been an end date for sign-up.
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