As growers look ahead to the June 30 or July 15 acreage reporting deadline, it is important that they be aware of the changes in terminology and acreage reporting policies.

When it comes to acreage enrollment requirements, the definition of a Common Land Unit (CLU) is the smallest unit of land that has a permanent, contiguous boundary, a common land cover and land management, a common owner and a common producer in agricultural land associated with USDA farm programs. CLU boundaries are delineated from relatively permanent features such as fence lines, roads and/or waterways.

Both the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) and the Risk Management Agency (RMA) are asking producers to report planted and harvested acres by CLU beginning in 2011. This includes Farm Serial Number, Tract Number and Field Numbers.

No More Data Hunting
With USDA requesting more CLU data, growers can rest assured that through the use of precision ag technologies and Ag Leader Technology’s SMS software, data is at their fingertips in a matter of minutes. This includes planting data, soil sampling/scouting/reporting, application data, guidance data and harvest information – all in one location.

Listen to an update from Steve Johnson, Farm Management Specialist, Iowa State University Extension, as he discusses what these changes to acreage reporting mean to growers and how precision ag plays a role.

And, here’s an article from Doug Jose in the UNL Cornhusker Economics newsletter about changes to crop insurance for 2011. Deadline is March 15.