Minnesota State Office

Welcome to the Minnesota Farm Service Agency

We are here to serve you!

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) implements agriculture policy, administers credit and loan programs, and manages conservation, commodity, disaster and farm marketing programs.

Through our network of county FSA offices and dedicated personnel, we are proud to offer a variety of programs to assist you. You can find your local county office at the USDA service center locator.

Service Center staff continue to work with agricultural producers via phone, email, and other digital tools. Contact your Service Center to set up an in-person or phone appointment. 

Please take a moment to review the information and programs outlined on this website or visit farmers.gov for a more comprehensive listing of our programs.

Sincerely,

Whitney Place, State Executive Director

---

2024 Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC)

Beginning February 28, dairy producers can enroll for 2024 Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC), an important safety net program offered through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that provides producers with price support to help offset milk and feed price differences. This year’s DMC signup ends April 29, 2024. 

FSA has revised the regulations for DMC to allow eligible dairy operations to make a one-time adjustment to established production history. This adjustment will be accomplished by combining previously established supplemental production history with DMC production history for those dairy operations that participated in Supplemental Dairy Margin Coverage during a prior coverage year. DMC has also been authorized through calendar year 2024. Congress passed a 2018 Farm Bill extension requiring these regulatory changes to the program.

DMC is a voluntary risk management program that offers protection to dairy producers when the difference between the all-milk price and the average feed price (the margin) falls below a certain dollar amount selected by the producer.  

---

Continuous Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)

USDA is now accepting applications for the Continuous Conservation Reserve Program (Continuous CRP). FSA encourages agricultural producers and landowners in Minnesota who are interested in conservation opportunities for their land in exchange for yearly rental payments to consider the enrollment options available through Continuous CRP, which also includes the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) offered by FSA partners. Additionally, producers participating in CRP can now apply to re-enroll, if their contracts will expire this year.

To submit an offer, producers should contact the FSA at their local USDA Service Center by July 31, 2024, in order to have an offer effective by Oct. 1, 2024. To ensure enrollment acreages do not exceed the statutory cap, FSA will accept offers from producers on a first-come, first-served basis and will return offers for approval in batches throughout the year. 

Additionally, producers with acres enrolled in Continuous CRP set to expire Sept. 30, 2024, can now offer acres for re-enrollment. A producer can both enroll new acres into Continuous CRP and re-enroll any acres expiring Sept.30, 2024.  

---

Pay My Loan on Farmers.gov

Most farm loan borrowers are now able to make payments on their direct loans online through the Pay My Loan feature on farmers.gov. Pay My Loan is part of a broader effort by USDA’s FSA to streamline its processes, especially for producers who may have limited time during the planting or harvest seasons to visit a local FSA office; modernize and improve customer service; provide additional customer self-service tools; and expand credit access to assist more producers.  

The Pay My Loan feature can be accessed at farmers.gov/loans. To use the payment feature, producers must establish a USDA customer account and a USDA Level 2 eAuthentication (“eAuth”) account or a Login.gov account. This initial release only allows individuals with loans to make online payments. For now, borrowers with jointly payable checks will need to continue to make loan payments through their local office. 

---

Minnesota FSA State Committee

The State Committee reviews state office operations and makes decisions on how programs are applied statewide. Appeals of County Committee decisions are heard at the State Committee level. The individuals appointed to serve on this committee for Minnesota are:

• Committee Chair Eunice Biel - Harmony
• Hannah Bernhardt - Finlayson
• Kurt Blomgren - Butterfield
• Lisa Brunner - Mahnomen
• Tim Velde - Granite Falls