Farm Service Agency (FSA) Updates District 1

Farm Service Agency (FSA) Updates District 1

Bonner and Boundary Counties

County Committee Elections Deadline

Eligible voters in Local Administrative Area number 4 in Boundary County (the area west of highway 95 in Boundary County) should have or soon will be receiving their ballots to vote in the 2016 County Committee Election.
This year the office only received one eligible nominating petition for this election cycle.  Wayne Nishek is a producer who lives west of Bonners Ferry and has been on the committee for the past term and is eligible to run one more term.
If you are an eligible voter which owns or operates a farm/ranch that is west of highway 95 and you did not receive a ballot you can request a ballot from the county office to submit your vote.  The deadline for submitting ballots is Monday, December 5, 2016.  Ballots can be mailed or dropped off at the county office.  All ballots must be post marked or dropped off by close-of-business Monday, December 5.

Ballots will be counted during the December 9th County Committee meeting in the Bonners Ferry FSA office starting at 10:00 a.m.  This meeting is open to the public.

2015 ARC-CO and PLC Payments Issued

Producers who enrolled in the 2015 crop year Price Loss Coverage (PLC) or the Agricultural Risk Coverage County Contracts should have received notification that program payments have been issued for participation in the program.  For the marketing year 2015 the 12-month market average prices and county yields have been determined for all crops except garbanzo beans.  That crop will be calculated as the market price is determined.

Producers enrolled in PLC will receive payments based on the respective commodities payment rate.  They are:  Wheat $.61 per bushel, canola $0.0455 per pound, corn $0.09 per bushel and Oats $.28 per bushel.  To calculate your payment you would take your crop acreage base for the commodity times .85% times the PLC rate times your PLC yield times your share.

ARC-CO producers will receive up to the maximum payment of 10% of the guaranteed calculated payment.  Because each county has a different county yield that maximum payment varies.  The following are the approximate payments.  Please remember for ARC-CO your payment is calculated by taking 85% of the base acres times the payment rate times your share.  The maximum payment limit is $125,000 less the 6.8% sequestration amount so $116,500 is your maximum payment amount.

Wheat  $56.28/ac Boundary   $46.90/ac Bonner
Barley   $47.90/ac Boundary
Dry Peas $23.46/ac Boundary
Oats  $26..45/ac Boundary  $25.40/ac Bonner

Payments should be in your bank account.  If you have not received your payment and the paperwork on your payments you might want to check with the county office.

Please remember these payments are for crop year 2015 and that is the year of the drought.  2016 payments would be issued this time next year if earned.

Enrollment for the 2017 crop year ARC-CO and PLC programs began November 1, 2016 and will end August 1, 2017.

Fall Crop Reporting Deadline is December 15^th

FSA recently revised the 2017 and future years crop reporting deadlines reducing the number of times a producer must report different crops.  FSA will now have one fall reporting deadline and one spring reporting deadline.

The deadline for fall planted crops and perennial grasses and legumes is now December 15th.  This is for winter wheat, all hay crops and other perennial crops that will be harvested or grazed.  This would also include winter triticale, winter canola, and winter peas/lentils or winter barley.

The deadline for spring seeded crops remains July 15th.  This includes all spring seeded crops as well as all grass seed crops and newly seeded grass or timothy stands.

FSA county offices are taking appointments for acreage reporting of fall crops at this time.  If you have all your crops seeded or you just have perennial hay/seed crops now is a good time to get your reporting requirements done.