Delaware State Office

Farm Aid Resource Guide for Farm Crisis Support

Farm life isn’t easy. Nature’s whims, costly repairs, injuries and other unpleasant surprises can upend even the most careful business plan, leaving your farm in physical and financial disarray and placing substantial pressure on your mental and emotional wellbeing. 

Farm Aid has a lot of useful resources for farmers including mental health and family services.  If you feel that you are stressed and in need of someone to speak to; call 1-800-FARM-AID or visit their website Farm Aid for more helpful resources. 

Reporting Cover Crops

 Cover crop types will be reported in the following four categories:

• Cereals and other grasses - Any cover crop that is classified as a grass plant or cereal grain, and would include, but not be limited to, the following cover crops: cereal rye, wheat, barley, oats, black oats, triticale, annual ryegrass, pearl millet, foxtail millet (also called German, Italian or Hungarian millet), sorghum sudan grass, sorghum and other millets and grasses.
• Legumes - Any cover crop that is classified as a legume, including, but not limited to, clovers, vetches, peas, sun hemp, cowpeas, lentils and other legumes.
• Brassicas and other broadleaves - Any cover crop that is classified as a non-legume broadleaf, including, but not limited to, Brassicas such as radishes, turnips, canola, rapeseed, oilseed rape, and mustards, as well as other broadleaf plants such as phacelia, flax, sunflower, buckwheat, and safflower.
• Mixtures - Mixes of two or more cover crop species planted at the same time, for example, oats and radishes.
• If the cover crop is harvested for any use other than forage or grazing and is not terminated according to policy guidelines, then that crop will no longer be considered a cover crop and the acreage report must be revised to reflect the actual crop.

Acreage Reports

In order to maintain program eligibility and benefits, producers must timely file acreage reports. Failure to file an acreage report by the crop acreage reporting deadline may result in ineligibility for future program benefits. FSA will not accept acreage reports provided more than a year after the acreage reporting deadline.

Did You Know

Payments to Deceased Producers

In order to claim a Farm Service Agency (FSA) payment on behalf of a deceased producer, all program conditions for the payment must have been met before the applicable producer’s date of death.

If a producer earned a FSA payment prior to becoming deceased, the following is the order of precedence of the representatives of the producer:

• administrator or executor of the estate
• the surviving spouse
• surviving sons and daughters, including adopted children
• surviving father and mother
• surviving brothers and sisters
• heirs of the deceased person who would be entitled to payment according to the State law

In order for FSA to release the payment, the legal representative of the deceased producer must file a form FSA-325, to claim the payment for themselves or an estate. The county office will verify and determine that the application, contract, loan agreement, or other similar form requesting payment issuance, was signed by the applicable deadline for such form, by the deceased or a person legally authorized to act on their behalf at that time of application.

If the application, contract or loan agreement form was signed by someone other than the participant who is deceased, FSA will determine whether the person submitting the form has the legal authority to submit the form to compel FSA to pay the deceased participant.

Payments will be issued to the respective representative’s name using the deceased program participant’s tax identification number. Payments made to representatives are subject to offset regulations for debts owed by the deceased.

FSA is not responsible for advising persons in obtaining legal advice on how to obtain program benefits that may be due to a participant who has died, disappeared or who has been declared incompetent.

Ask USDA

Are you looking for answers to your FSA questions? Then Ask USDA at https://ask.usda.gov/s/

Environmental Review Required Before Project Implementation

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires Federal agencies to consider all potential environmental impacts for federally-funded projects before the project is approved.

For all Farm Service Agency (FSA) programs, an environmental review must be completed before actions are approved, such as site preparation or ground disturbance. These programs include, but are not limited to, the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP), Farm Storage Facility Loan (FSFL) program and farm loans. If project implementation begins before FSA has completed an environmental review, this will result in a denial of the request. There are exceptions regarding the Stafford Act and emergencies. It is important to wait until you receive written approval of your project proposal before starting any actions, including, but not limited to, vegetation clearing, site preparation or ground disturbance.

Remember to contact your local FSA office early in your planning process to determine what level of environmental review is required for your program application so that it can be completed timely.

Applications cannot be approved contingent upon the completion of an environmental review. FSA must have copies of all permits and plans before an application can be approved.

Are you interested in a Farm Loan through USDA Farm Service Agency?

FSA farm loan programs are a valuable resource to establish, improve, expand, transition, and strengthen your farm or ranch. 

• Your Guide to FSA Farm Loans for new loan customers.

• Your FSA Farm Loan Compass for current farm loan customers.

For more information, visit FSA's Farm Loan Program website, USDA's https://www.farmers.gov/fund or your local FSA office at http://offices.usda.gov.

State Committee Members