As many in the industry know, USDA’s 2018 Grape Crush Report was delayed due to the recent government shutdown. This record breaking crop report was covered in the May issue of American Vineyard Magazine; but we also recently got some special insights on the report along with current wine market trends from Allied Grape Growers President Jeff Bitter. So check out this brief interview, and if you haven’t already, be sure to read more about the Crush Report in the May issue of American Vineyard Magazine.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) are rescheduling cooperatively funded reports that were affected by the lapse in federal funding. During the lapse, NASS was not able to collect data nor issue reports, including those funded by state and industry programs.
The following reports have been rescheduled and others will be announced as soon as they are determined:
2018 California Grape Crush Report will be released Wednesday, April 10, 2019 at Noon Pacific Time, providing that funding remains available for Fiscal Year 2019.
There will not be a Grape CrushPreliminary Report this year.
2018 California Grape Acreage Report will be released Friday, April 19, 2019 at Noon Pacific Time, providing that funding remains available for Fiscal Year 2019.
In order to expedite the rescheduled reports and give producers more time to complete their surveys, NASS requests that anyone who received a survey, please respond as quickly as possible:
If you have received any of these surveys and have not responded, but no longer have the survey form, please call 800-851-1127 from 7:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. Pacific Time. NASS representatives may call to collect information as well. NASS surveys provide critical data used by numerous different federal, state and local programs that benefit farmers and ranchers.
These reports will be available in the May issue of American Vineyard Magazine.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced that many Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices will reopen temporarily in the coming days to perform certain limited services for farmers and ranchers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has recalled about 2,500 FSA employees to open offices on Thursday, January 17 and Friday, January 18, in addition to Tuesday, January 22, during normal business hours. The offices will be closed for the federal Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday on Monday, January 21.
In almost half of FSA locations, FSA staff will be available to assist agricultural producers with existing farm loans and to ensure the agency provides 1099 tax documents to borrowers by the Internal Revenue Service’s deadline.
“Until Congress sends President Trump an appropriations bill in the form that he will sign, we are doing our best to minimize the impact of the partial federal funding lapse on America’s agricultural producers,” Perdue said. “We are bringing back part of our FSA team to help producers with existing farm loans. Meanwhile, we continue to examine our legal authorities to ensure we are providing services to our customers to the greatest extent possible during the shutdown.”
Staff members will be available at certain FSA offices to help producers with specific services, including:
Processing payments made on or before December 31, 2018.
Continuing expiring financing statements.
Opening mail to identify priority items.
Additionally, as an intermittent incidental duty, staff may release proceeds from the sale of loan security by signing checks jointly payable to FSA that are brought to the county office by producers.
Information on the locations of FSA offices to be open during this three-day window will be posted:
While staff are available in person during this three-day window, most available services can be handled over the phone. Producers can begin contacting staff on January 17 here.
Additionally, farmers who have loan deadlines during the lapse in funding do not need to make payments until the government shutdown ends.
Other FSA Programs & Services
Reopened FSA offices will only be able to provide the specifically identified services while open during this limited time. Services that will not be available include, but are not limited to:
New direct or facility loans.
New Farm loan guarantees.
New marketing assistance loans.
New applications for Market Facilitation Program (MFP).
Certification of 2018 production for MFP payments.
Dairy Margin Protection Program.
Disaster assistance programs, such as:
Livestock Indemnity Program.
Emergency Conservation Program.
Wildfires and Hurricanes Indemnity Program.
Livestock Forage Disaster Program.
Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish.
While January 15, 2019 had been the original deadline for producers to apply for MFP, farmers have been unable to apply since December 28, 2018, when FSA offices closed because of the lapse in federal funding. Secretary Perdue has extended the MFP application deadline for a period of time equal to the number of business days FSA offices end up being closed, once the government shutdown ends. These announced days of limited staff availability during the shutdown will not constitute days open in calculating the extension. Producers who already applied for MFP and certified their 2018 production by December 28, 2018 should have already received their payments.
The ongoing federal government shutdown, which began Dec. 22, may soon affect a key program of great importance to winegrape growers.
Thursday, Jan. 10 is the deadline for wineries to submit grape purchase data from the 2018 harvest to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Pacific Region office. NASS collects and compiles the data for publication in the Crush Report, which is published annually. The 2019 publication dates are Feb. 8 for the preliminary report and March 8 for the final report. Many purchase contracts between growers and wineries rely on reported prices to establish grape pricing in the following year.
Currently, NASS staff responsible for producing the report are on unpaid furlough until funding is restored. A continuation of the shutdown makes timely publication of the Crush Report highly uncertain.
Bill Berryhill, CAWG Chairman
“The Crush Report, which the industry pays for, provides essential financial information to California winegrape growers,” said Bill Berryhill, a Ceres-area grower and chair of the CAWG board of directors. “Lengthy delays in publishing the report threaten to complicate contract negotiations, interfere with lending activity and make it difficult for growers to budget for the year ahead.
“We need our elected leaders in Washington, D.C. to quickly resolve this budget impasse and get programs like the Crush Report back up and running,” Berryhill said.
NASS and many other USDA agencies that are critical to grape growers have been affected by the shutdown. Other agencies include Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Agricultural Research Service, Farm Service Agency, Foreign Agricultural Service, Risk Management Agency, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) are rescheduling cooperatively funded reports that were affected by the lapse in federal funding. During the lapse, NASS was not able to collect data nor issue reports, including those funded by state and industry programs.
