KC Farms Qualify For FSA Crop Assistance

KC Farms Qualify For FSA Crop Assistance

Edina, MO – Mark March, Executive Director for the Knox County Farm Service Agency (FSA) announced that starting on Monday, October 25, 2010, producers can begin signing up for the USDA’s Crop Assistance Program (CAP). CAP provided disaster aid to producers in specified counties whose rice, upland cotton, soy beans, and sweet potato production was adversely affected by excessive moisture and related conditions that occurred in 2009. Sign up will continue through December 9, 2010.
“Producers in Knox County are eligible for CAP because Knox was one of 953 counties nationwide with a secretarial disaster designation due to excessive moisture during 2009,” March said.
Through CAP, FSA will provide emergency assistance to help re-establish the purchasing power of eligible producers who suffered a five percent or greater loss of rice, upland cotton, soy beans, or sweet potato.
“This program is only applicable to acreage located in the primary designated county and does not extend to acreage in contiguous counties, unless the contiguous county also had a primary designation,” March said.
A complete list of the disaster counties can be found on line at http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.
CAP payments will be calculated by multiplying eligible acreage the crops payment rate. Per acre payment rates will be prorated by FSA in order to keep payments within available funds for the program. Producers will initially receive 75 percent of their CAP payment and once sign up is complete, they will receive up to an additional 25 percent. The predetermined, per-acre payment rates for the eligible crops are: long grain rice-$31.93; Medium/short grain rice-$52.46; Upland cotton-$17.70; Soy beans-$15.62 and Sweet potatoes-$155.41.
Producers will self certify they have met the loss threshold for an eligible crop, provided they have production evidence to support the five percent or greater loss claim. Producer certifications are subject to spot check.
The general eligibility provisions, payment limits, and adjusted gross income limits that apply to FAS programs apply to CAP. No person or legal entity (excluding joint venture or general partnership) may receive, directly or in directly, more than $100,000 in CAP benefits. Additionally, CAP payments will be treated as 2009 revenue under the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments (SURE) Program.
For more information about FSA’s disaster assistance programs visit the Knox County FSA office, or http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.