USDA Reminds Farmers to File Crop Acreage Reports

Farmers are reminded to file their crop acreage reports with their local Farm Service Agency (FSA) county office.

July 15 is a major deadline for most crops, but acreage reporting deadlines vary by county and by crop.

“To ensure receipt of important safety net, disaster assistance, conservation and crop insurance program benefits, producers should file an accurate crop acreage report for all crops and land uses, including failed acreage and prevented planted acreage before the deadline,” FSA Administrator Bill Beam said. “Once planting is complete, call your local FSA office to make an appointment to report your acres and take care of other FSA-related business during your appointment.”

How to File a Report
A crop acreage report documents a crop grown on a farm or ranch, its intended use and location. Farmers can contact their FSA county office for acreage reporting deadlines that are specific to their county.

To file a crop acreage report, farmers need to provide:

• Crop and crop type or variety
• Intended crop use
• Number of crop acres
• Map with approximate crop boundaries
• Planting date(s)
• Planting pattern, when applicable
• Producer share(s)
• Irrigation practice(s)
• Acreage prevented from planting, when applicable
• Other required information

Acreage Reporting Details
The following exceptions apply to acreage reporting dates:

• If the crop has not been planted by the acreage reporting deadline, then the acreage must be reported no later than 15 calendar days after planting is completed.
• If a farmer acquires additional acreage after the acreage reporting deadline, then the acreage must be reported no later than 30 calendar days after purchase or acquiring the lease. Appropriate documentation must be provided to the county office.

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

Farmers with perennial forage crops should check with their local FSA office to see if their crops are eligible for continuous certification, which rolls the certified acreage forward each year until a change is made.

Prevented planted acreage
Farmers should also report the crop acreage they intended to plant but were unable to because of a natural disaster, including drought.

Prevented planted 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 (RMA).

Farmers.gov Portal  
Farmers can access their FSA farm records, maps and common land units through the farmers.gov customer portal. The portal allows farmers to export field boundaries as shapefiles and import and view other shapefiles, such as precision agriculture boundaries within farm records mapping. Farmers can view, print and label their maps for acreage reporting purposes. A login.gov account that is linked to a USDA customer record is required to use the portal.

Farmers can visit farmers.gov/account to learn more about creating an account. Farmers who have the authority to act on behalf of another customer as a grantee via an FSA-211 Power of Attorney form, Business Partner Signature Authority or as a member of a business can now access information for the business in the farmers.gov portal.

Geospatial acreage reporting  
Acreage reports using precision agriculture planting boundaries can be filed electronically with an approved insurance provider or an authorized third-party provider, who will then share the file with FSA staff.

Farmers should notify their local FSA office if they submitted an electronic geospatial acreage report containing precision planting boundaries that they want to use as part of their FSA acreage report.  

More information
Farmers should contact their local USDA Service Center for questions about acreage reporting.