SURE deadline is July 29

Steve Carson, county executive director for the Johnson County Farm Service Agency Office reminds producers that they have until Friday, July 29, to apply for assistance for 2009 crop losses under the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments (SURE) Program. The program provides crop disaster assistance payments to eligible producers on farms that have incurred crop production or quality losses.

“This deadline is fast approaching,” said Carson. “Producers who qualify, you need to file in a timely manner. I encourage anyone with questions to visit our Farm Service Agency Office.”

The SURE program takes into consideration losses on all crops in all counties that are grown by a producer. To be eligible, producers must have suffered at least a 10 percent production loss on a crop of economic significance and obtained a policy or plan of insurance under the Federal Crop Insurance Act or the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP), for all economically significant crops. A producer must have a farming interest physically located in a county that was declared a primary disaster county or contiguous county by the Secretary of Agriculture under a Secretarial Disaster Designation or have actual production on the farm that was less than 50 percent of the normal production on the farm due to a natural disaster.

A payment limitation of $100,000 per person and legal entity collectively received, directly and indirectly, applies to the combination of payments from SURE and the livestock disaster programs administered by FSA - Livestock Forage Program (LFP), Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) and Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-raised Fish (ELAP). Persons or legal entities whose average Adjusted Gross nonfarm income exceeds $500,000 are not eligible for SURE payments.

A producer interested in signing up for SURE for their 2009 crops must do so before close of business July 29, 2011, at the county FSA office servicing the producer. The sign-up for the SURE program for the 2010 crops will be announced at a later date.

For more information about SURE contact the Johnson County FSA Office or visit FSA online at http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov/.