USDA Offers New Forest Management Incentive for Conservation Reserve Program

WASHINGTON, Jan. 19, 2021 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is making available $12 million for use in making payments to forest landowners with land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in exchange for their implementing healthy forest management practices. Existing CRP participants can now sign up for the Forest Management Incentive (FMI), which provides financial incentives to landowners with land in CRP to encourage proper tree thinning and other practices.

USDA Service Center in Augusta

The USDA Service Center in Augusta, which serves customers in Kennebec, Knox and Lincoln counties, has moved their offices to their new location at 2305 North Belfast Avenue, Augusta, ME 04330. The service center houses USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Kennebec County Soil and Water Conservation District.

USDA Reminds Producers of Continuous Certification Option for Perennial Forage 

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11, 2023 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reminds agricultural producers with perennial forage crops of an option to report their acreage once, without having to report that acreage in subsequent years, as long as there are no applicable changes on the farm. Interested producers can select the continuous certification option after USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) certifies their acreage report.  

USDA Temporarily Suspends Debt Collections, Foreclosures and Other Activities on Farm Loans for Several Thousand Distressed Borrowers Due to Coronavirus

EAST LANSING, Michigan, Jan. 27, 2021 - Due to the national public health emergency caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced the temporary suspension of past-due debt collections and foreclosures for distressed borrowers under the Farm Storage Facility Loan and the Direct Farm Loan programs administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA).