By Carrie Muehling

NORMAL – With an important deadline approaching, the majority of farmers eligible have not yet made an appointment to meet with local USDA Farm Service Agency officials.

The deadline is Feb.27 for producers to update yields or reallocate base acres, something allowed under the 2014 Farm Bill. In order to do that, area operators or landowners need to pick up an 859 Form from the county office and set up an appointment to complete that paperwork.

“I’d say less than probably 15 percent of the county is actually signed up at this point, and with less than 30 working days left here, we really need to get operators an 859 in hand, get their yields on that form and get an appointment set up so that they can update their yields and reallocate their bases if that’s something they’re interested in doing,” said Jonathan Evers, county executive director for the USDA Farm Service Agency in McLean County.

Evers said he realizes there is a lot of information out there and everyone is working to make a final decision, not only on yields and base acres but also in which farm program they’ll choose to enroll. But the low turnout for signup so far has him concerned.

“We really are, so that’s why we’re trying to urge producers to definitely pick up the 859 Form and start to work through your yield data. When you feel like you’re to the point of having that complete, definitely give us a call so we can get an appointment locked in for you so we can get an appointment for everybody that wants to update yields and reallocate bases,” said Evers.

Evers said typically the opportunity to update yields and base acres only happens every 10-15 years. He reminded farmers they can use USDA Risk Management Agency crop insurance data if needed and also cited the University of Illinois FarmDoc website as a good resource with a helpful calculator.

Carrie Muehling can be reached at [email protected].