Crop certification maps ready for farmers

The season is here for agricultural producers to fill out crop certification maps, and the Hill County Farm Service Agency Office is asking producers to pay special attention to some new requirements on the latest Farm Bill. "We're urging all livestock producers to certify their native range and other grazing lands in order to ensure their eligibility for any potential livestock programs," said FSA Hill County Executive Director Mike Zook. In order to qualify for most U.S. Department of Agriculture FSA programs, farmers and ranchers must certify their crops. They are given maps each year on which they record what is grown and when it is seeded. The latest farm bill also requires certification of grazing lands. New programs in the bill include the Livestock Indemnity Program, Livestock Feed Program, and the several other permanent disaster programs that assist agricultural producers when disasters such as drought occur. The Hill County USDA Service Center on 2nd Street West has the map packets, which can be picked up. They will be mailed out to producers at the end of the month. "We like to give our farmers and ranchers the option of picking their maps up," Zook said. "It gives them opportunity to review them to make sure they're all there, and creates a substantial savings to the government if we don't have to mail them." Zook estimated that people picking up their maps has saved several thousand dollars in the past. Once the maps are received back into the office, the acreages are loaded into the computer system, and a copy is printed out for the producer's signature. The deadline for certification is July 15, 2010.