Crop producers who sustained production losses in 2008 now may enroll in the so-called Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments (SURE) program authorized under the 2008 farm law.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced Dec. 24 that it had finalized rules for the program, which applies to producers who sustained at least a 10 percent production loss on at least one crop on their farm of "economic significance" (accounting for at least 5 percent of the farm's expected revenue). In addition, to be eligible, producers are required to meet the risk-management purchase requirement by either obtaining a federal crop insurance policy or plan of insurance, or non-insured crop disaster assistance coverage for all economically significant crops on the farm. For 2008 crops, producers had the opportunity to obtain a waiver of the risk-management purchase requirement through a buy-in provision. "Producers considered socially disadvantaged, a beginning farmer or rancher, or a limited-resource farmer may be eligible" without a policy or plan of insurance or non-insured crop disaster assistance coverage, USDA said.
To be eligible, the crop producer also is required to either: 1) have a farming interest physically located in a county declared by the secretary of agriculture as a primary disaster county or contiguous county. [Click here for a list of counties receiving such designations.]; or 2) sustained an actual production loss on the farm that exceeds 50 percent of normal because of natural disaster-related conditions. Under the SURE program, a "farm" is defined as all crops in which a producer had an interest nationwide. The program is subject to the 2008 farm law's payment limits, meaning producers are ineligible if their average adjusted gross income is $2.5 million or more, unless 75 percent or more of their income is from agriculture. A separate payment limit of $100,000 applies to the combination of payments a producer receives for SURE and the livestock disaster-assistance programs.
The SURE program provides payments equal to 60 percent of the difference between the farm guarantee specified in the SURE program and total farm revenue. The farm guarantee is based upon the amount of crop insurance and non-insured crop disaster assistance program coverage that exists on the given farm. Meanwhile, the total farm revenue calculation takes into account the actual value of production on the farm, as well as insurance indemnities and certain other farm program payments received by the producer.
Sign-up for the SURE program at county Farm Service Agency offices began on Jan. 4. Click here to access a four-page USDA fact sheet on the program.