Important Dates to Remember

January 21, 2013 – USDA Offices will be closed in observance Of Martin Luther King Jr Day Holiday

January 31, 2013 – deadline to apply for ECP benefits 

June 7, 2013 – deadline to apply for 2011 SURE benefits

Non-insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP)

The sales closing date to purchase NAP coverage is March 15, 2013. This is the effective date for spring seeded crops and forage crops.  The NAP program offers benefits to producers who suffer losses in excess of 50 percent of their approved yield on selected crops that are non insurable by FCIC.

An eligible producer is an owner, landlord, tenant, or sharecropper who shares in the risk of producing the crop or is entitled to share in the crop available for marketing from the farm or would have shared had the crop been produced.  A producer must be determined “at risk” and have control of the land, however limited, to receive benefits.

To be eligible to receive NAP assistance, a producer must request application, and pay the service fee by the closing date of March 15, 2013.  The service fee is $250 per crop per county or $750 per producer per county.  The fee cannot exceed a total of $1875 per producer with farming interest in multiple counties.  Payment of the service fee is also due at the time the producer files the application. 

Qualifying limited resource producers may request a waiver of service fees, if:

1. In each of the last two years, was your direct or indirect Gross Farm Sales less than or equal to $172,800 per year?

2. In each of the last two years, was your Total Household Income less than the Dawes County median household income “County/Area Value” of $23,050.00?

If you answered YES to BOTH questions, you are eligible for NAP FEE WAIVER.

The Limited Resource Farmer/Rancher FY 2013 Self-Determination Tool as available at the following website:

www.lrftool.sc.egov.usda.gov/DeterminationTool.aspx?fyYear=2013

NAP coverage is one program where the deadline cannot be extended beyond the sales closing date of March 15; therefore, it is imperative that producers purchase their coverage by this date.  

Producers who have purchased a RMA Pilot Program for Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage (PRF), available through your crop insurance agent, WILL BE able to purchase NAP coverage on the same forage type.  

IRS Forms 1099-G and 1099-MISC Reporting Changes

In accordance with Internal Revenue Code sections 6041(a) and 6041A(a), if a producer’s total calendar year payments are less than $600, IRS Forms 1099-G and 1099-MISC are not required to be provided by the issuer.  Beginning with 2012, FSA will not provide these forms to producers that received less than $600 for the calendar year.  Producers affected by this change should contact their tax advisor to determine if their payments are required to be reported on their tax return

If you have any questions please contact the  Dawes/N Sioux County FSA Office in Chadron  432-4616 ext. 2, the Sheridan County FSA Office in Rushville 327-2489 ext. 2, or the Box Butte County FSA Office in Alliance 762-4322 ext. 2