Dec. 15 was the final date to file an acreage report certifying all acreage of fall seeded crops like wheat, oats, and ryegrass. It was also the final date to report any winter cover crops planted this fall.
Wheat and oats are often planted just as a cover crop and not harvested as grain. Other crops like cereal rye and legumes (vetch or clover) and tillage radishes are planted strictly as winter cover crops.
Any of these crops may be planted as a winter cover crops to help with soil erosion, weed control, and carbon sequestration in the soil. Plus, there are many other agronomic and environmental reasons to plant cover crops as the trend has seen a resurgence lately.
Wheat or oats for harvest as grain should always be reported to FSA. However, reporting cover crops is strictly voluntarily. Last year’s Pandemic Assistance relief bill included a provision to allow Risk Management Agency, that administers Federal Crop Insurance, to give a crop insurance premium discount to any producer who planted a cover crop and reported the acres to FSA. After that announcement was made last June, Tallahatchie County FSA had over 11,000 acres of 2021 cover crops reported before the RMA deadline. It is my understanding that RMA will offer this premium discount benefit again for 2022. If a producer has planted a winter cover crop this fall, he or she might as well report the acreage timely to FSA to get the 2022 RMA premium discount.
The current farm bill requires every participant to certify all cropland on a farm to be eligible to receive any benefits. This includes any winter wheat crop that might be doubled cropped by planting soybeans next summer after the wheat is harvested. Cover crops reported are not considered row crops for harvest and, therefore, have no effect on a producer’s FSA program acreage reporting requirements.
For all crops of wheat or oats to be eligible for a commodity loan, or LDP, from FSA, the producer must also follow Highly Erodible and Wetland Conservation re-quirements of the current farm bill. For more information on wheat and other fall seeded crop acreage report, call the Tallahatchie County FSA office at 662-647-8857, ext. 2.
The weather this fall has been ideal for planting fall seeded crops. Nov. 30 was the ending planting date established by crop insurance to plant wheat or oats. Anyone planting these crops for harvest should have reported acreage to FSA and their private crop insurance agent by Dec. 15. This includes any of these crops planted after Nov. 30 but during the RMA-established late planting period.
