12/23/08 DCP signups, ACRE crop years

Enrollment for the 2009 Direct and Counter-cyclical Payment program for farms with base acres is now open. Signup is available on line and at local USDA service centers and will continue through June first. Producers who are eligible for the DCP program are also eligible to enroll in the Average Crop Revenue Election, or ACRE program. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer says the ACRE payments will be based on the 2007 and 2008 crop years. There was some controversy over that because of potential budget impacts from higher '08 commodity prices. SCHAFER "Some members of Congress had one intent. Some members of Congress told us they had a different intent and CBO scored it in different years and so as you go through the next marketing year we really don't know what the prices are going to be or not be and so when we deliver that program in October of '09 we just felt that in the end the proper base years were the '07 and '08 crops." ACRE signups don't begin until next spring. Schafer says producers who enroll in the DCP program first can elect to receive advance direct payments and later modify their enrollment to include ACRE. Another option is to wait and enroll in both programs at the same time. Once a farm is enrolled in ACRE it will remain there through the 2012 crop year. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott