Sign-up for the Crop Disaster Program (CDP), which provides payments for producers who suffered 2001 or 2002 crop-year losses due to natural disasters, ends Jan. 30.
“USDA has issued $2.2 billion in benefits to about 325,000 farmers across the country,” says Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman. “We encourage qualified farmers to take advantage of this assistance.”
CDP, which is authorized by the Agricultural Assistance Act of 2003, has no overall funding limitation, but each “person” is limited to $80,000. Producers are reimbursed for qualifying crop production and quality losses, other than sugar cane, sugar beets or tobacco, for the 2001 or 2002 crop years.
More information on CDP and other USDA disaster assistance programs is available at local Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices and on FSA's Web site at www.disaster.fsa.usda.gov.