Farmers interested in applying for the Assistance for Speciality Crop Farmer program must report their 2025 planted acreage to FSA by 5:00 pm EDT on March 13, 2026.
Deadline Extended: Eligible farmers should ensure their 2025 acreage reporting is factual and accurate by Friday, April 24, 2026. USDA will release commodity-specific payment rates soon after the acreage reporting deadline.
Deadline Extended Again: U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is maximizing disaster assistance support for producers by issuing a second Supplemental Disaster Relief Program (SDRP) payment to eligible producers who have approved program applications for losses due to natural disasters in calendar years 2023 and 2024. USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) has already provided $6.7 billion in SDRP payments to eligible producers. Additionally, USDA is extending the program deadline to give producers and FSA more time to address any program application changes that could impact payments. The original deadline has been extended to Aug. 12, 2026, for SDRP Stage 1 and Stage 2.
Initial SDRP payments were factored at 35%, but after further analysis, USDA is increasing the payment factor to 70%, meaning producers with approved applications will receive an additional 35% of their calculated SDRP payment. Future SDRP payments will also be made using a 70% payment factor.
Here’s what to know about the program and Acreage reporting requirements: The ASCF program will issue one-time payments to producers of certain specialty crops, including apples, beans, coffee, grapes, lettuce, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes. Here is the full list of over 90 eligible crops. Payments will be based on reported 2025 planted acres, but the commodity-specific payment rates will not be made publicly available until the end of March.
The USDA is providing $1 billion in assistance nationally. RAFI is working to get clarity from FSA, but we encourage farmers to check with their local FSA office what intended uses are eligible (like if crops grown for cover or forage are eligible), or if crops grown in controlled environments (greenhouse, hoop house, high tunnel, or other enclosed structure) are eligible for payment. We realize that the deadline for this program is quickly approaching, and with the many unknowns, it is hard to predict if the work will be worth the reward. Program payments are based on acres of crop planted and not production, so keep that in mind when making your decision on whether or not to participate. Reporting your crops to FSA may have other benefits in the future, like access to crop insurance, farm loans, or disaster programs.
If you have never participated with FSA before, you will first need to register your farm (i.e., get a “farm number”) by completing the USDA form AD-2047 with proof of ownership, lease, or a property tax statement for your parcel of farmland at your local FSA office. You can find more details on this process in RAFI’s guide: “How & Why to Get a Farm Number.”
Once that step is complete, you must file an FSA-578 “Report of Commodities” by 5:00 pm EDT on March 13, 2026. Crop planting records — often known in FSA lingo as certification or crop acreage reporting — involve documenting field-specific planting data that aligns with your FSA Farm Map. For your crop acreage report, you must document the following:
- Crop type and variety
- Intended crop use: fresh, grain, forage/hay, grazing, seed, processed, or silage
- Amount planted in Acres, Square Feet, or Plant Count
- Planting date in month/date/year format
- Irrigated or Non-Irrigated
- Producer’s share of the crop
- Where it’s planted on your farm. This can be done with your own map, sketch, or FSA’s farm number map
Note that even if you are a small producer and your production space isn’t considered cropland (by FSA’s definition), you can still report it. Crops may be reported in as small as a 2.5-inch-by-2.5-inch area. We recommend printing out the aerial image and writing out the details in a bold pen anywhere on top of the image where they can be easily read, on the back page of the map, or on a separate sheet of paper. See below for some examples of what this might look like.
Once you submit your completed Farm Map, your local FSA office will load your information into the software and generate an FSA-578 Report of Commodities form. Producers may also complete a manual report form here. We recommend getting a photocopy of the date-stamped, signed report and map once it has been submitted to FSA for your records, along with a Receipt for Service.
To be eligible for ASCF payments, there are additional requirements including:
- Have risk and interest in the eligible planted crop;
- Be actively engaged in farming and have the following completed forms on file;
- Form CCC-902I (if applicable), Farm Operating Plan for an Individual
- Form CCC-902E (if applicable), Farm Operating Plan for an Entity
- Form CCC-941, Average Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) Certification and Consent to Disclosure of Tax Information
- AD-1026, Highly Erodible Land Conservation (HELC) and Wetland Conservation (WC) Certification
- SF-3881, ACH Vendor/ Miscellaneous Payment Enrollment Form (Direct Deposit)
Farmers should verify with their FSA office what additional documentation must also be submitted at the time of filing their crop report. Documentation may be required to verify that the crops were planted in 2025 and their location. That supporting documentation could be a combination of the following:
- Seed or seedling receipts showing the amount, variety, and date purchased
- Receipts for cleaning, treating, etc., for seed planted on the farm
- A written contract or documentation of an oral contract to produce the specific crops
- Date-stamped photos of the crops in the ground that would indicate the year planted
- Photos with measurements of the planted area
- Ledgers of the crops that were sold at market or direct sales
- Receipts of donated crops
- Other records requested by the County Committee
An example of a small-scale diversified vegetable farm map:
An example of a drawing of a mixed vegetable plot to correspond with the farm map:
An example of a spreadsheet that lists all the information that FSA needs to process the crop report:
