Kiowa County USDA Service Center Staff

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

• CRP CONTRACT MANAGEMENT – Light disking and grazing is available until March 15, 2027.
• ARC-PLC ELECTION and ENROLLMENT –
• 2026 crop year – September 16 through December 11, 2026
• LIVESTOCK FORAGE PROGRAM - Kiowa County eligible for 5-month payment. Apply before March 1, 2027.
• FALL ACREAGE REPORTING DEADLINE - November 15, 2026
• All fall seeded crops will need to be reported to crop insurance and/or FSA by the date of November 15th.
• NON-INSURED ASSISTANCE PROGRAM or NAP Sales closing date for native grass and alfalfa is December 1, 2026. Cost is $325.00 per producer, per crop.

VISIT Farmers.gov for more information regarding deadlines and programs available through FSA and NRCS.

PAYMENTS HAVE BEEN ISSUED

The 2026 CRP annual rental payments and the 2025 ARCPLC payments have been issued. If you have not received your payments, contact the office. There are still many pass-through entities that have not signed and returned the CCC-902. Each member of the entity is required to sign the revised 902. It is a requirement that a CCC-902 be on file and in determined status before payments can be made. FSA uses the form to determine direct attribution and other eligibility requirements; depending on the program.

CRP CONTRACT MANAGEMENT

Contract management activities are available to be completed until primary nesting season begins, which will begin March 15th, 2027. Light disking and grazing are available. It’s important that producers check in with FSA to make certain that the activity can be completed and that all the required paperwork is in place. For grazing, NRCS must conduct a field check to determine that grazing can be utilized and in many cases the Conservation Plan of Operations will need to be revised to reflect grazing as the management activity.

NAP DEADLINE – TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1st

December 1st is the deadline for producers to purchase an application for coverage on a CCC-471 form on grass with the intended use of grazing for crop year 2027. The cost is $325.00 per producer, unless the producer has filed a CCC-860, Socially Disadvantaged, Limited Resource and Beginning Farms or Rancher Certification. Producers with a CCC-860 on file are automatically eligible for basic 50/55 NAP coverage on eligible crops.

DROUGHT MONITOR

That is sight we haven’t seen in a while. Kiowa County has virtually no drought intensity shown. The moisture received in the past few weeks was well received. We all should be grateful for the moisture, because as you see below; much of the western slope is still experiencing devastating drought conditions. Hopefully, there is a wet winter ahead for many of those areas.

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2026 ARCPLC ELECTION and ENROLLMENT

ARCPLC election and enrollment are now underway. The office will most likely complete a multi-year contract, that will reduce the workload for the office in future years. If an operator enrolls into a multi-year contract, that operator can change the election during the applicable crop year election and enrollment process.

2026 – Sept. 16 through Dec. 11, 2026

2027– Nov. 2, 2026, through March 15, 2027

Below is the ARC-CO benchmark yields and prices. Benchmark yields for 2026 are yields from 2020-2024, the 2025 yields ARE NOT present in the 2026 benchmark; 2025 yields will be reflected in the 2027 program year data. (see Chart)

For Price Loss Coverage or PLC for 2026 currently, the projected PLC rates are as follows:

• Wheat .05 bushel
• Grain Sorghum .17

Corn, barley, oats and sunflowers are currently projecting zero. Those are projected, not final rates. The commodity must go through an entire marketing year before the final price is determined.

Additional ARCPLC data can be located at Farmers.gov; just type in ARCPLC in the search bar