USDA Farm Service Agency’s Minnesota Executive Director Linda Hennen reminds producers that they have until July 29 to apply for assistance for 2009 crop losses under the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments Program. The program provides crop disaster assistance payments to eligible producers on farms that have incurred crop production or quality losses.

“USDA wants to ensure that all eligible producers are aware of the approaching deadline,” said Hennen. “SURE covers producers on farms in disaster counties that incurred crop production, crop-quality losses or both, but in order to qualify, you need to file in a timely manner. I encourage anyone with questions to visit their local USDA Farm Service Agency office.”

The SURE program takes into consideration losses on all crops grown by a producer nationwide. 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, 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 limit 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 the Farm Service Agency — Livestock Forage Program, Livestock Indemnity Program and Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-raised Fish. Persons or legal entities whose average 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 USDA Farm Service Agency disaster assistance programs, visit a local FSA county office or http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.