FSA deadline coming up

United States Department of Agriculture offers several programs geared towards agricultural producers in Montana. Jill Lorang, who works for the Cascade County Farm Service Agency, talked to KMON about one of those programs that has an upcoming deadline.

Jill Lorang: today I want to talk about the NAP deadline for fall planted crops. All grazing and mixed forage is September 30. So, your fall planted Triticale Winter Wheat like Willow Creek Winter Wheat for hay and all types of mixed forage and then also your grass. You can do a basic policy which is a 50-55% coverage level, or you can elect to do a buy up coverage level all the way up to a 65 to a 100% coverage level. The administrative fee for all basic policies is $325 per crop. Again, the deadline is September 30. So, you're going to want to contact your FSA office right away. This program covers crops that aren't insured under crop insurance.

Randy: Jill talked about another program called the Livestock Forage Program.

Jill Lorang: We continue to do sign up for the Livestock Forage program. Cascade County has triggered the maximum number of payments for that program at five monthly payments and  some neighboring counties have also triggered for that program and we encourage you to contact your FSA office. If you do own livestock and graze in one of the counties adjacent to Cascade or surrounding counties, contact your FSA office and get on the books to schedule an appointment for that emergency Livestock Assistance program. Water hauling and hay transportation and also transporting livestock to additional feed is available. It's really important that you notify your office within 30 days of either hauling water or hauling hay to get that notice. The application for payment deadline is January 30 of 2023.

Randy: Go to Farmers.gov to look at the fact sheets for general information as well as calculation sheets.

Tune into 560 KMON every morning M-F at 6:15, 6:45, 8:15 and 8:45 am MST for Ag updates.