Farmers who have not yet completed their crop acreage reports after planting should make an appointment with their local Farm Service Agency (FSA) service center before the applicable deadline. July 15 is a major deadline for most crops, but acreage reporting deadlines vary by county and by crop. Farmers should make an appointment as soon as possible to avoid missing earlier deadlines.

“To be eligible for many of our programs, including disaster assistance, you will need an acreage report on file,” FSA Administrator Zach Ducheneaux said. “To ensure you can benefit from our many programs, including disaster assistance, please be sure to call your local FSA office to make an appointment to report your acreage. As a reminder, perennial forage is eligible for continuous acreage reporting, which allows producers to report their acreage once and keep their certification in place until they make a change.”

Continuous acreage reporting provides an opportunity to substantially streamline farmers’ applications for assistance, Ducheneaux noted.

“With protracted drought conditions across the Great Plains and Western United States, producers who had previously filed a continuous acreage report benefitted from a streamlined application process for disaster programs like the Livestock Forage Disaster Program. I encourage producers to continue taking advantage of this tool and simplify their ability to apply for assistance,” he said.

An acreage report documents a crop grown on a farm or ranch and its intended uses. Filing an accurate and timely acreage report for all crops and land uses, including failed acreage and prevented planted acreage, can prevent the loss of program benefits.

How to file a report
Farmers can contact their FSA at their local USDA Service Center 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 use of the crop.
  • Number of acres of the crop.
  • Map with approximate boundaries for the crop.
  • Planting date(s).
  • Planting pattern, when applicable.
  • Producer shares.
  • Irrigation practice(s).
  • Acreage prevented from planting, when applicable.
  • Other information as required.

Acreage reporting details
The following exceptions apply to acreage reporting dates:

  • If the crop has not been planted by the acreage reporting date, 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 date, 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.
  • If crops are covered by the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program, acreage reports should be submitted by the applicable state, county, or crop-specific reporting deadline or 15 calendar days before grazing or harvesting of the crop begins.

Farmers should also report crop acreage they intended to plant but were unable to because of a natural disaster.

Prevented planting 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).

FSA offers continuous certification for perennial forage. This means after perennial forage is reported once and the producer elects continuous certification, the certification remains in effect until a change is made. Check with FSA at the local USDA Service Center for more information on continuous certification.

New option to view, print and label maps on farmers.gov
Farmers with an eAuth account linked to their USDA customer record can now access their FSA farm records, maps and common land units by logging into farmers.gov. A new feature will allow farmers to export field boundaries as shapefiles and import and view other shapefiles, such as precision agriculture boundaries. This will allow farmers to view, print and label their own maps for acreage reporting purposes.

Farmers who have authority to act on behalf of another customer as a grantee via form FSA-211 Power of Attorney, Business Partner Signature Authority, along with other signature types, or as a member of a business can now access information in the farmers.gov portal.

Farmers can learn how to use the farmers.gov Farm Records Mapping functionality with this fact sheet and these video tutorials.

More information
Farmers can make an appointment to report acres by contacting their local USDA Service Center.