Newcastle, WY 82701 Weston County Producers

October 2018

Weston County FSA Office

1225 Washington Blvd., Suite 2 Newcastle, WY 82701

(307)746-2701 Ext. 2 Fax: 855-415-3437

FSA Office Personnel: Peggy Livingston, CED Heidi Edwards, PT

County Committee Members: Chuck Grieves Randy Oleson Tim Tysdal Robin Riesland

Farm Loan Manager: Rob Weppner 307-682-8843 Rob.Weppner@wy.

Dates to Remember:

November 15, 2018 -2019 Acreage Report Deadline -Deadline for reporting 2018 hay production

December 1, 2018 -2019 NAP Purchase Deadline

Next COC Meeting: October 23, 2018 @ 1p.m.

Greetings Weston County Producers

It appears that fall is here and with that comes preparations for the coming winter. I am including several reminders in this newsletter. There are deadlines that I encourage you to check on and make sure you are up-to-date with your records and required reports. If you have any questions or concerns about any of the information shared in this newsletter, please do not hesitate to call the county office. Best Regards,

Peggy Livingston, CED

New Office Location

I would like to welcome everyone to our new office location. We are now located in the office space formally occupied by the University of Wyoming Extension Service, directly across the hall from Natural Resource Conservation Service and Weston County Natural Resource Conservation District. Please stop by and check out our new location.

Informational Meeting(s) On Livestock Indemnity Program

Please make a note to attend an Livestock Indemnity Program informational session this December. The session will show you what necessary documentation is needed to support your livestock loss claims when they perish from an eligible weather event. We will provide you with additional information on the time(s) and place(s) for these meeting(s), later.

WYOMING FSA

Make Sure Your Leases Are Current

Whenever you are renewing a lease for the year, signing a new lease, or changing the status of a lease, be sure to bring us a copy of it. This is very important, as it keeps your records current in the County Office, so if a disaster should occur your records are correct and up-to-date.

Upcoming County Committee Election

I am pleased to announce that William "Randy" Oleson has been nominated to serve on the Weston County FSA Committee for Local Administrative Area #2, which includes the northwest portion of Weston County. The nomination is a 3-year term beginning January 1, 2019. Randy and his wife Rhonda operate a cattle ranch and harvest dryland hay. Randy is currently a member of the Weston County FSA Committee and serves as president of the Inyan Kara Grazing Association. Election ballots for the Weston County FSA Committee election will be mailed out on November 5, 2018. December 3, 2018 is the final date for ballots to be postmarked or delivered to the County Office. Please exercise your right to vote.

Deadline for Acreage Reporting Is November 15th

I want to take this time to remind all producers involved in the production of hay or small grain, that the deadline for you to report fall seeded crops such as winter wheat and permanent cover crops such as alfalfa hay and grazed acres must be reported to the county office no later than November 15, 2018. Spring seeded crops such as oats and millet must be reported to the county office not later than July 15th, 2019. Acreage reports are a requirement for every program that FSA offers. The rules have changed, we will no longer be able to take late-filed acreage reports past 1 year from the deadline. As an example, for this coming year (2019), the acreage reporting deadline for pastureland, grass hay and winter wheat for hay is November 15th, 2018. The deadline for late-filed acreage reports on pastureland, grass hay and winter wheat for hay is November 14th, 2019. What this means is two things, (1) starting November 16th, 2018 your 2019 acreage report is considered late-filed and each farm you operate will be assessed a measurement service fee and (2) if you miss the late-file deadline (November 14th, 2019) you will not be able to file an acreage report for 2019 and program payments that you may have been eligible for 2019 will not process. The same applies to the acreage reporting deadline on spring seeded crops. We do not want this to happen to you, so please contact the county office and set up a time to complete your acreage report if you haven't already.

Deadline for Reporting 2018 Hay Production Is November 15th

November 15, 2018 is also the deadline for reporting your production from 2018. This will include any forage crops you harvested that were covered by the Non-Insured Crop Assistance Program or NAP for 2018. Production documentation needs to include how many bales you harvested on each field for each crop type (please do not comingle your crop types), average bale weight, signature, date and submit to the county office no later than November 15, 2018. Please be sure to provide this information no later than the deadline because production this year should have been normal or above and will help to offset the previous dry years. It may improve your current established yields. Please contact the county office and set up a time to report your production history.

Changing Your Operation

Whenever you do a change in your operation, for example, you have been operating as individual and become an entity, please bring us your legal documents that indicate the type of entity, the tax identification number, the shareholders or members and their percent of ownership, as well as addresses and social security numbers from the shareholders or members. We will need to know who has signature authority for the entity. Another scenario might be that your adult children or hired help are operating on part of the farm/ranch and own their own livestock and are allowed to run the livestock on your farm/ranch in exchange for labor. It is important to let the County Office know about this arrangement in the case there is a weather event, such as drought, that damages or destroys grazing acres. Your child/hire help may be eligible for the program, but you must have let us know timely that part of your pastureland was designated for them to operate on. This must be reflected on your annual acreage report due by November 15th for the subsequent year. Your child/hired help will be required to file an annual acreage report on the acres they have been designated to use.

Deadline for Purchasing 2019 NAP Coverage Is December 1st

The deadline for purchasing Non-Insurable Crop Disaster Assistance Program(NAP) coverage for all pastureland, fall seeded crops such as winter wheat with an intended use of hay, and/or grass hay is December 1st this year. This is a change from last year. The deadline for purchasing NAP for eligible spring seeded crops is April 1st, 2019. To qualify for assistance, production losses or prevented planting must occur as a result of an eligible cause of loss during the coverage period. Eligible causes of loss include:

? Damaging weather, including but not limited to drought, hail, excessive moisture, freeze, tornado, excessive wind, or any combination thereof

? Adverse natural occurrences, such as earthquake, flood, volcanic eruption, or any combination thereof ? Related conditions, including but not limited to heat, insect infestation, or disease that occur because of an

adverse natural occurrence or damaging weather Producers must file a timely notice of loss:

? Prevented planting claims, within 15 calendar days after the final planting date ? Low yield claims and allowable value loss, the earlier of either the following;

15 calendar days after the disaster/date of loss or when damage to the crop/commodity first becomes apparent

15 calendar days after the normal harvest date ? Grazing loss claims, no later than 60 calendar days after the coverage period ends. In Weston County the

coverage period for grazing ends on October 15th; therefore, claims must be filed no later than December 14th.

Beginning Farmer/Rancher/Socially Disadvantaged/Limited Resource Producers

Beginning farmer or rancher ? a person or legal entity who:

? Has not operated a farm or ranch for more than 10 years; and ? Materially and substantially participates in the operation. ? For legal entities to be considered a beginning farmer, all members must be related by blood

or marriage and must be beginning farmers.

Socially Disadvantaged farmer or rancher - a group whose members have been subject to racial, ethnic or gender prejudice because of their identity as members of a group without regard to their individual qualities. These groups consist of American Indians or Alaskan Natives, Asians, Blacks or African-Americans, Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders, Hispanics and women. For legal entities to be considered socially disadvantaged more than 50% of the members must be held by one of the groups identified above.

Limited resource farmer or rancher ? a person or legal entity that earns no more than $173,600 in each of the two calendar years that precede the complete taxable year before the program year, to be adjusted upwards in later years for inflation; and has a total household income at or below the national poverty level for a family of four, or less than 50 percent of county median household income for both of the previous two years.

Each fiscal year, FSA targets a portion of its direct and guaranteed farm ownership and operating loan funds to beginning farmers and ranchers and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers.

Beginning, Socially Disadvantaged and Limited Resource Farmers or Ranchers are eligible for a

Waiver of the service fee and a 50% premium reduction when applying for NAP coverage. Contact the county office for additional information.

USDA Farm Service Agency Weston County Office 1225 Washington Blvd., Suite 2 Newcastle, WY 82701

Important FSA Dates and Deadlines

October 23, 2018: County Committee Meeting @ 1p.m. November 15, 2018: Deadline for 2019 acreage reporting

Deadline for reporting 2018 hay production December 1, 2018: Deadline to purchase 2019 NAP

The Weston County FSA Office is open Monday through Friday from 8am to 4:30pm

Persons with disabilities who require accommodations to attend or participate in this meeting should contact Peggy Livingston at 307-746-2701 or Federal Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339. USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (866) 632-9992 (Toll-free Customer Service), (800) 8778339 (local or Federal relay), (866) 377-8642 (Relay voice users).

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