Crop Acreage   

     Begining  July 1, 2012, there will be changes in many of the Crop Acreage Reporting Dates (CARD) for several of the crops planted in Georgia. The revision in reporting dates was the result of a combined effort of both the Farm Service Agency and the Risk Management Agency (RMA – crop insurance) to make acreage reporting easier by standardizing the acreage reporting deadline for crops for both FSA and crop insurance purposes.

     As a result, there are more deadline dates applicable to specific fruit and vegetable crops than in prior years. The newly established deadline dates for the specific fruit and vegetable crops mentioned below will apply to these crops regardless of whether the  producer has them covered under a crop insurance plan or not. These particular crops (apples, blueberries, peaches, cabbage, onions, pecans, fresh market sweet corn, fresh and market tomatoes) now have a specific FSA reporting deadline date and must be reported by the newly established reporting deadline whether the crop is covered by crop insurance or not.

Newly Established Crop Reporting Dates for Georgia – Effective July 1, 2012:
January 2 --- Honey (producers with NAP coverage)
January 15 --- Apples, Blueberries, Peaches, Barley, Canola, Oats, Rye, Wheat, and any other Fall-Seeded Small Grains, and Grazing and Forage crops with NAP coverage
March 15 --- Cabbage (Planted between 10/1-2/20), Onions (Planted between 10/21-2/1), and Pecans
May 15 --- Flue-cured Tobacco, Fresh Market Sweet Corn (Planted between 8/26-5/15), Fresh Market Tomatoes (Planted between 8/16-4/5)
July 15 --- Cabbage (Planted between 2/21-5/31), Corn, Cotton, Grain, Sorghum, Peanuts, Soybeans, and any other crops planted by this date and not already reported.
August 15 --- Cabbage (Planted between 6/1-7/15), Fresh Market Tomatoes (Planted between 7/1-8/15)
September 15 --- Fresh Market Sweet Corn (Planted between 7/15-8/25)
October 15 --- Cabbage (Planted between 7/16-9/30)
November 15 --- Apiculture and Pasture, Range, Forage (PRF) – NOTE: Apiculture is NOT the same as NAP/Honey coverage and PRF is not the same a NAP-covered grazing and forage; these are 2 separate crop insurance programs
December 15 --- Onions (Planted between 9/20-10/20).

Changes in Previous Reporting Dates:
(1)    Winter-seeded small grains were moved forward from March 1, to January 15
(2)    Grass and forage crops with NAP coverage moved up to January 15 from March 1 to co-inside with small grain acreage reports, the same as in prior years.
(3)    Tobacco was moved back from May 1, to May 15
(4)    Specific dates were implemented for FSA acreage reporting purposes for numerous fruit and vegetable crops, depending on the planting date.

FSA advises producers to contact their local FSA offices for more information on the revised crop acreage reporting deadlines and to obtain a copy of the new crop reporting deadlines.