Deadline for SURE approaching
Farm and Ranch August 6, 2010 The deadline for producers to submit their applications for the new Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments Program is coming up in September. Willis: “We started sign up for 2008 crop losses in January of this year. We have been going throughout the year here. We have actually put out a tremendous amount of money.” And Farm Service Agency Deputy Administrator Brandon Willis says the deadline for sign up is set for September 30th, which coincides with the end of the federal fiscal year. Willis: “You might remember a few years ago when Congress passed the Recovery Act. That created a little bump in payments for the SURE program. A one-year bump for 2008 crop losses. The September 30th deadline, if a farmer hasn‘t gone into the office they will be left out so we really want people to get in before that deadline because it is something we cannot extend legally.” Production or quality losses due to natural disaster are covered under SURE. Willis says producers can go into their local FSA offices for more information about the program. Now, what about SURE and 2009 losses. Willis: “The SURE program, the way it works it uses some numbers we don‘t have until a year after the crop is lost. So we just are finishing 2008 sign up for losses that happened in 2008. Then later this year we‘ll start sign up for crop losses that happened in 2009. We don‘t have a date set for that. It kind of depends on how fast we finish up 2008. So we are talking about farmers who suffered a disaster during the 2008 growing season need to go into their local county office prior to September 30th.” I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on Northwest Aginfo Net. ?
