With acreage dates set, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency crop reports are due by July 15.
Local Executive Director Chad Huddleston said crop reports record how many acres of a certain crop were planted. Huddleston said corn, wheat, and soybeans, or any crop produced on a commercial level should be reported. Huddleston said planters should come in as soon as they are done planting to ensure eligibility for assistance like drought aid..
“You may come in and do it and nothing may come of it,” Huddleston said. “Or you never know when a disaster or drought or any kind of weather event may occur. The majority of our programs are tied to crop reports, so if you’ve got that crop report on file, you’re going to be one step ahead of the game.”
Huddleston said all planters with federally insured crops must file a crop report. Huddleston said crop producers can still receive aid if crops are reported after the deadline, but a late fee will be assessed.
Huddleston said Farm Service Agencies house disaster programs. Huddleston said farmers should visit a Farm Service Agency to document their farm records, which include ownership and tenant details and a map of the land.
“So when [farmers] come in to do their crop report, we would pull the maps for those farms,” Huddleston said. “We identify the fields where crops are located. We report the number of acres planted and the plant date for those crops. Most crops have a final reporting date, a final plant date, so we have all of that. That stays as a permanent record here in our office.”
Huddleston said Farm Service Agencies provide programs when necessary to help reporting farmers through difficult seasons.
“If a program is appropriated by Congress, if there’s some kind of disaster defamation due to a weather event, such as drought, flooding, tornados, wind damage, hail, some kind of event like that, it could trigger a program from our office to help ag producers that have crops,” Huddleston said.
Huddleston said programs could be triggered by other events, such as low commodity prices.
