USDA Invites Farmers to Join Acreage Reporting Pilot Project

LINCOLN - Producers in 19 Nebraska counties are being asked to consider participating in a pilot project to test their ability to use precision ag data for reporting acreage to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) agencies.

Nebraska USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) State Executive Director Nancy Johner and USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) Regional Director Collin Olsen have announced the agencies are looking for producers to test the transfer of data collected by their planting equipment as part of a streamlining initiative. The data will be processed by an approved third-party provider and transmitted directly to FSA and RMA as part of the Acreage Crop Reporting Streamlining Initiative (ACRSI).

Acreage crop reporting is an important step farmers and ranchers take to be eligible for many USDA programs and services, such as federal crop insurance administered by RMA and farm programs administered by FSA. The acreage reporting date for spring-planted crops is July 15, 2019.

“An increasing number of producers are using precision ag technology in their field equipment,” said Johner. “It’s logical to use the data gathered by that equipment in a way that saves the producer and our office time and paperwork. It’s information they are going to share with us anyway for program compliance purposes.”

The Nebraska FSA county offices participating in the pilot include Box Butte, Cheyenne, Dawes-North Sioux, Frontier, Furnas, Harlan, Hayes, Hitchcock, Kearney, Keith, Kimball, Lincoln, Morrill, Perkins, Phelps, Red Willow, Saline, Sheridan and Webster.

“Farmers still will have to visit their participating FSA county office and also work with their crop insurance agent to validate transmitted data, sign the final acreage reports and provide any additional information,” said Olsen. “By helping test this pilot now, we will continue to improve and streamline the process and ensure farmers in the future can spend more time farming and less time filling out paperwork.”

Producers located in the pilot project counties who are interested in participating should contact their FSA county office. For more information on ACRSI visit http://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/initiatives/acrsi/index.