Keep FSA in loop when rental agreements are made
By Daniel Root
daniel.root@mn.usda.gov
Date Modified: 01/11/2012 4:05 PM
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Now is the time that existing and new rental agreements are being negotiated and made.
The Farm Service Agency office reminds you to update your records in their office as these agreements are being made. Updating your records in a timely manner will ensure your records will be current when it's time to enroll your farms in the program.
Farms are constituted in a manner that has been requested by the current or prior operator. Procedure requires producers to combine farm numbers that have a common owner and common operator. Procedure also allows operators and owners to combine non-common ownership farms together as long as all owners agree to the combination.
Any changes in a farm's owner or operator must be reported to the FSA office in order to update those records. Farms participating in the ACRE program can only be combined with other farms that are participating in the ACRE program.
When a tract of land is divided from a farm number, base acres may be allocated to the resulting tracts and farms using either the estate, designation by landowner or the default method. The estate method divides base acres according to the provision of a will or an agreement between the heirs who acquired an interest in the property.
The designation by landowner method applies when a farm or tract of land is sold and a written agreement is made between the current owner and the new owner as to how the base acres are to be divided between the parent farm and the new farm numbers. This agreement must be filed with our office before FSA can make any farm record changes.
The default method divides base acres according to how they were previously assigned to the tracts of land. In other words — according to the records we have on file as to how many base acres are recorded on the given tracts of land.
The final date to request a 2012 reconstitution is Aug. 1, 2012. If direct payments have already been issued on the farm, the reconstitution will be effective for 2013, unless the payments have been refunded.
Root is county executive director of the Dodge County FSA.