He can’t stress enough – it’s urgent! That was the simple message from Wisconsin’s Department of Revenue Secretary, Peter Barca, in a conversation with Pam Jahnke.
“As of 4:30 Tuesday, we’re at 10,635 applications,” Barca said – but he wants more! Barca says it’s been interesting to see when applications are coming in. As soon as the application came on line, there was a sharp spike in enrollment. After that, it seemed to revolve around weather. Obviously, when farmers aren’t engaged in field activities, they have the time to fill out the application which usually requires around 15-20 minutes. Barca says they’re getting applications at all hours of the day and night since it’s on line.
Barca says the extended deadline on filing 2019 taxes, and questions about quarterly payments, have kept farms engaged. He’s proud of how quickly they networked with WI Department of Ag., Trade and Consumer Protection staff to create the program, and looks forward to more collaboration with the department in the future.
Farmers can go to the WI Department of Revenue website for any questions they might have – and talk to staff as well. The website application is here and the phone number to reach DOR staff is 608-266-2772.
Please share this information with any farms you network with to continue to make sure every operation has a chance to review their options before the end of the day Monday.
Jane White says
why is the threshold $35,000 in gross income? there are many small farms and micro operations that can not access these funds because their gross was under 35K. this favors the big guy as always
Pam Jahnke says
A group of 8 farm organizations and commodity groups from across the state set up these guidelines. I understand your frustration. My home farm did not qualify either because of poor growing season last year. Take it up with the 8 farm groups. It absolutely does not favor “the big guy” – but it sure doesn’t stretch to help non-traditional ag or farms that had weather and the markets against them last year too.