Hurricane Assistance Deadline Is This Friday
The Sept. 29 deadline for growers to apply for 2005 hurricane disaster programs is only four days away. Those who have yet to apply have to sign up for the program at their local Farm Service Agency offices no later than this Friday.
"We are doing everything we can at FSA to help farmers recover from the devastation brought by last year's hurricanes," said Kevin L. Kelley, state executive director of the USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) in Florida. "I'm encouraging all producers to contact their local FSA office as soon as possible so they can enroll in these programs before the deadline, because there are no late filed provisions for these programs."
U. S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns announced the hurricane disaster program which began May 17 at the Farm Service Agency offices. The announcement included two newly developed programs funded through Section 32, the Hurricane Indemnity Program (HIP) and the Tree Indemnity Program (TIP).
Hurricane Indemnity Program – This program will provide payments to eligible producers who suffered crop losses and received a Federal Crop Insurance Corporation crop insurance indemnity payment due to hurricane damage and whose crop was in an eligible county. For most growers, the payment will be calculated by multiplying the crop insurance payment times 30%. More information on HIP is available at http://www.fsa.usda.gov/pas/publications/facts/html/hip06.htm.
Tree Indemnity Program – This program will provide flat payments per acre for eligible producers based on the groves’ proximity to the hurricanes’ bands of severity. FSA has established four tiers using the maximum sustained wind speeds recorded by the U. S. Weather Service, although only Tiers 2 through 4 are established for Florida losses – Tier 1 is for the Gulf Coast states impacted by Hurricane Katrina. The per acre payments by Tier for Florida are: Tier 2, $300; Tier 3, $200; Tier 4, $90. More information on TIP is available at http://www.fsa.usda.gov/pas/publications/facts/html/tip06.htm.
The rules for both HIP and TIP also state that no “person” may receive more than $80,000 in payments from each program and an individual or entity whose average adjusted gross income exceeds $2.5 million is ineligible for benefits unless 75 percent or more of their income is derived from farming, ranching, and/or forestry.
Sign up for these programs is done at the county Farm Service Agency offices and will end on September 29. Additional information is also available online at http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.
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