(KLZA)--  Agricultural producers in Nebraska who have not yet completed their crop acreage reports after planting should make an appointment with their U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) service center as soon as possible ahead of the upcoming July 15 deadline.

“Many USDA programs require producers to file an accurate crop acreage report by the applicable deadline,” said John Berge, FSA state executive director in Nebraska. “Most of our planting is complete across the state, so we are asking producers to call their local FSA office to make an acreage reporting appointment, if they don’t already have one scheduled.”

An acreage report documents a crop grown on a farm or ranch and its intended uses. Filing an accurate and timely acreage report for all crops and land uses, including failed acreage and prevented planted acreage, can prevent the loss of benefits, Berge said.

The deadline for acreage certification is July 15, 2022. This includes common spring-planted crops, such as corn, soybeans, dry edible beans and sugar beets, but also includes Conservation Reserve Program acres and perennial grass, such as pastures. 

Producers also should report crop acreage they intended to plant, but due to natural disaster, were unable to plant. Prevented planting acreage must be reported on form CCC-576, Notice of Loss, no later than 15 calendar days after the final planting date as established by FSA and USDA’s Risk Management Agency.

Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) policy holders should note that the acreage reporting date for NAP-covered crops is the earlier of the date listed above or 15 calendar days before grazing or harvesting of the crop begins.

FSA offers continuous certification for perennial forage. This means after perennial forage is reported once and the producer elects continuous certification, the certification remains in effect until a change is made. Check with FSA at the local USDA Service Center for more information on continuous certification.

New Option to View, Print and Label Maps on Farmers.gov

Producers with an eAuth account linked to their USDA customer record can now access their FSA farm records, maps and common land units by logging into farmers.gov. A new feature will allow producers to export field boundaries as shapefiles and import and view other shapefiles, such as precision agriculture boundaries. This will allow producers to view, print and label their own maps for acreage reporting purposes. 

Producers who have authority to act on behalf of another customer as a grantee via form FSA-211 Power of Attorney, Business Partner Signature Authority, along with other signature types, or as a member of a business can now access information in the farmers.gov portal. 

Producers can learn how to use the farmers.gov Farm Records Mapping functionality with this fact sheet and these video tutorials. 

More Information

Producers can make an appointment to report acres by contacting their local USDA Service Center.