BAY MINETTE, Ala. — Bruce West, county executive director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Baldwin/Mobile County Farm Service Agency, recently announced that eligible farmers who suffered quantity losses to their crops in recent years can enroll in the Crop Disaster Program at local FSA centers.

Sign-up began Oct. 15. FSA will announce and conduct sign-up for quality losses under CDP as soon as possible.

Subject to final rules of the program, CDP provides benefits to farmers who suffered losses to the the 2005-2007 crops from natural disasters and related conditions so long as the actual crop lost was planted or prevented from being planted before Feb. 28, 2007. Producers who incurred qualifying losses in 2005, 2006 or 2007 must choose only one year to receive benefits. Producers may apply for benefits for losses to multiple crops as long as the losses occurred in the same crop year.

Only producers who obtained crop insurance coverage or coverage under the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program for the year of the loss will be eligible for CDP benefits. Producers must have suffered quantity losses in excess of 35 percent to be eligible for CDP. The payment rate is set at 42 percent of the established price. Assistance, together with any crop insurance or NAP payment received for the same crop and including the value of the crop production not lost, must not exceed 95 percent of the toal value of the crop absent the disaster.

FSA offices may accept information from producers about quality losses when producers submit applications for quantity losses.

However, FSA will only consider quality loss applications completed after FSA announces the quality loss sign-up date and all other information necessary to determine eligibility is received by FSA.

Also, FSA will not consider applications completed for any loss, including quantity losses, until a final rule has been issued for this program.

For more information about CDP and other disaster programs implemented by FSA, visit http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov or contact your local FSA office.