COLUMBUS — Producers who suffered crop losses in the 2008 crop year now have an additional opportunity to buy eligibility for Farm Service Agency disaster assistance.
Deadline
“Producers now have until May 18 to pay a buy-in fee to become eligible for the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program, Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish and the Tree Assistance Program,” said David Drake, Ohio’s Farm Service Agency acting state executive director.
The buy-in is for producers who did not previously obtain statutorily required crop insurance from the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation or Non-insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program coverage for 2008.
The buy-in fee does not provide producers with crop insurance or Non-insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program for the 2008 crop year; it only allows eligibility for the 2008-crop disaster assistance programs.
Necessary steps
Producers who have not already taken the necessary steps to become eligible for the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program, Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish and the Tree Assistance Program may now become eligible for such programs by completing the following steps by the deadline:
– Paying a $100 buy-in fee per crop. The maximum fee for insurable or non-insurable crops is $300 per county, per producer, not to exceed $900 for multi-county producers.
– In the case of each insurable crop (those for which insurance is available from FCIC), excluding grazing land, agreeing to obtain a policy or plan of insurance for the next insurance year for which crop insurance is available; coverage level should equal 70 percent or more of the yield at 100 percent of the price.
– In the case of each non-insurable crop, agreeing to file the required paperwork and pay the applicable administrative Non-insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program coverage fee by the applicable state application closing date for the next available year.
Producers who purchased insurance coverage in 2009 at or above 70/100 coverage level for a buy-in crop will be considered as having met the linkage requirement.
Producers who purchased insurance coverage below the 70/100 coverage level will be required to purchase at least the 70/100 coverage level for a buy-in crop in the next available year.
Producers who purchased NAP coverage for 2009 for a buy-in crop will be considered as having met the linkage requirement.
Producers who meet the definition of “socially disadvantaged, limited resource,” or “beginning farmer or rancher,” have the possibility of the buy-in fee waived after filing an application at their local Farm Service Agency office.
Elect to waive
An eligible producer on a farm may also elect to waive the Risk Management Purchase Requirement on a crop that is not economically significant.
A crop must contribute less than 5 percent of the total expected revenue to be considered not economically significant.
For more information about these programs, contact your local Farm Service Agency office.
Fact sheet
A 2008 Crop Year Buy-in for Disaster Assistance Programs fact sheet is also available at www.fsa.usda.gov/Internet/FSA_File/buyinwaiver08.pdf.
