BANGOR — Agricultural producers in Maine should make an appointment with their local Farm Service Agency office to complete crop acreage reports before the applicable deadline after planting is complete.

“Many USDA programs require producers to file an accurate crop acreage report by the applicable deadline in order to receive program benefits,” said Sherry Hamel, state executive director in Maine, according to a news release from the Bangor-based field office. “Once planting is complete, call your local FSA office to make an appointment to report your acreage. We also encourage you to take care of any other FSA-related business during your appointment.”

An acreage report documents a crop grown on a farm or ranch, its intended use and location. Filing an accurate and timely acreage report for all crops and land uses, including failed acreage and prevented planted acreage, can prevent the loss of benefits.

Producers can access their FSA farm records, maps, and common land units through the farmers.gov customer portal. The portal allows producers to export field boundaries as shapefiles and import and view other shapefiles, such as precision agriculture boundaries within farm records mapping. Producers can view, print and label their maps for acreage reporting purposes. Level 2 eAuthentication or login.gov access that is linked to a USDA Business Partner customer record is required to use the portal.

Producers can visit farmers.gov/account to learn more about creating an account. Producers who have authority to act on behalf of another customer as a grantee via an FSA-211 Power of Attorney form, Business Partner Signature Authority or as a member of a business can now access information for the business in the farmers.gov portal.

For questions, producers should call their FSA county office. To find their FSA county office, visit farmers.gov/service-center-locator.

Check out upcoming area events!