08-27-12 *FSA-CO Logan County News* USDA Changes Help Farmers and Ranchers Impacted by Drought Crisis...

Secretary Tom Vilsack announced another helpful change in August, this one made by the Risk Management Agency (RMA), that livestock producers especially should appreciate.  For the 2012 crop year, RMA intends to allow haying and grazing of cover crops without affecting the insurability of planted 2013 spring crops.  This means farmers and ranchers can plant a cover crop without foregoing crop insurance coverage in 2013, thus giving producers another opportunity to grow needed forage and feed for this fall and winter.

A second change announced during the Secretary’s weekly update of the drought crisis of 2012 was the commitment from the Farm Service Agency (FSA) to change the emergency loan program so that farmers and ranchers are eligible to apply earlier in the disaster recovery process.  Previous to this change, emergency loan eligibility was based on crop losses that were determined after the production cycle; loan amounts were based on production during normal years. With these changes, producers no longer are required to wait until the end of the production cycle to obtain a loan.  That means livestock producers needing assistance today to offset increased feed costs don’t have to wait. However, before making any plans to plant crop cover, producers should consult with their insurance agent, according to RMA.

In the USDA news release issued Aug. 22, 2012, Secretary Vilsack announced that so far in 2012 he had designated 1,821 counties as disaster areas in 35 states.  Of those, 1,692 were because of drought.

For a review of the entire news release, go to http://www.usda.gov, click on Newsroom and look for Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Announces New Help for Livestock Producers with Changes to Emergency Loans, Crop Insurance.