By KEN CARPENTER
Great Bend Post
It's that time of year for farmers to pick up their spring acreage map packages at the Barton County FSA Office. The 2021 final crop acreage reporting deadline for all Kansas counties is July 15, 2021. Reporting planted acreages is a requirement for FSA program participation.
Barton County FSA Executive Director Kristi Badger explained the process. "It all started last year, due to COVID," Badger noted. "We couldn't let the producers sit at our desks so we had to copy their wheat maps, and then we had them pick up their packets, and then they could take the packets home and they could draw them around their fields they had planted in the evenings when they had more time."
A lot of farmers have stated that they really liked the new method because it allowed them to take the maps home.
Badger said getting the paperwork done soon will help everyone. "We need to have them get their initial crops drawn on the maps and returned to us before wheat harvest because we need to get their signatures before the July 15th deadline and we can be loading that into the computer while they're harvesting their wheat.
Appointments can still be made at the FSA office, but Covid screening and masks are required because the office is located in a federal building.