FSA and NRCS are extending the Fiscal Year 2019 deadline for signing up for the Conservation Stewardship Program – Grasslands Conservation Initiative to July 19, 2019.  The previous deadline was June 28, 2019.  However, there was a delay in the delivery of the notice to eligible producers resulting in insufficient time for producers to consider their options and make application for the program.

The Conservation Stewardship Program – Grasslands Conservation Initiative is a new provision in the 2018 Farm Bill with limited applicability.  To be eligible, producers would have grass recorded on their Farm Service Agency acreage report from 2009 through 2017 and have been determined “not eligible” to participate in ARC/PLC as provided in the 2018 Farm Bill.  Since the eligibility is limited, USDA is providing a direct mail letter to each producer with this information and are being directed to NRCS and the CSP grassland program.

An additional notice was mailed on Saturday, June 29, to the same producers notifying them of the extended deadline.

Only those farmers who received notification from FSA should contact NRCS for more information.