USDA Announces Sign-up For Crop Disaster Assistance Program

Sign-up is underway for USDA's 2003-2004 Crop Disaster Program (CDP), according to Derryl McLaren, State Executive Director of the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) in Iowa. The program authorizes crop loss assistance for producers who suffered 2003 or 2004 crop year losses stemming from damaging weather.

"Unpredictable weather events, such as drought, floods, and hurricanes, put producers at financial risk and threaten to interrupt the production of a dependable and affordable national food supply," said McLaren.

Eligibility for the current program is similar to that of the 2001-2002 crop disaster program. Producers suffering a greater than 35% production loss or more than a 20% quality loss are eligible.

The payment rate has been increased to 65% of the established commodity price for insured crops and non-insured crops, and 60% of the price for uninsured commodities. Previous disaster assistance provided payments of 50% of the established commodity price for insured and non-insurable crops and 45% for uninsured crops.

Producers may apply for assistance for any crops that are eligible for coverage under the Federal Crop Insurance or the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP).

The payment limit is $80,000 per producer. Producers with adjusted gross incomes of greater than $2.5 million are ineligible. Any producer who elected not to obtain federal crop insurance on an insurable crop for which the producer receives crop loss assistance or for non-insurable crops, for which the producer elected not to participate in FSA's Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) for the year in which benefits will be received, must purchase crop insurance at a level greater than the catastrophic for insurable crops or NAP coverage for uninsurable crops for the next two crop years. If at the time the producer applies for CDP the sales closing date for insurable crops or for non-insurable crops for which the producer sought benefits has passed, the producer must purchase crop insurance and/or NAP, as applicable, for the following two crop years.

The closing date for this sign-up will be announced later.

For more info, producers should contact their local FSA County Office. USDA had posted a fact sheet with information about the Crop Disaster Program, as well as other disaster assistance programs http://disaster.fsa.usda .gov