A farmer is still not required to certify at the FSA office to be eligible for crop insurance. However, it might be in your best interest to contact your FSA office to check on a couple of things:
1. Conservation Requirements: It is required that every farmer must comply with the highly erodible land and wetland conservation requirements of the Food Security Act of 1985 (form 1026A). Farmers who do not sign and file a form stating their compliance will not receive any subsidy for their crop insurance premium. If you are new to farming or have created a new entity for your farming operation, make sure you fill out the form at FSA to comply with the conservation program. In addition, contact our office so we can fill out any supplemental conservation compliance forms.
2. Supplemental Coverage Option Unavailable with some FSA programs: If you are seriously considering signing up for SCO, please consider the programs that you wish to sign up for at FSA, as they have a direct connection on your eligibility to sign up for SCO, specifically the ARC program. If a producer elects to sign up for ARC, he will not be eligible to sign up for SCO at the same time. This is the first time that a program at FSA has had a direct impact on any component of Crop Insurance. However, we expect this trend will continue as the connection between FSA and the Federal Crop Insurance Program furthers. Please refer to the included FSA Changes flyer for more information on the available programs at FSA.