Georgia farm organizations to share nearly $1 million to promote, support and enhance Specialty Crops

Georgia Department of Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin says that nearly $1 million in federal funds are on the way from Washington for competitive grants that promote the marketing and enhancement of “specialty crops” in the state. The funds, distributed as part of the 2008 Farm Bill, are designated under the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.

Irvin says $909,576.44 in U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) funds will be awarded on a competitive basis for developmental projects that support and enhance the competitiveness of Georgia Specialty Crops. Awards will be presented for projects that can successfully measure the greatest return on investment of the federal dollars. Grants of $10,000 up to $150,000 will be awarded for up to three years.

The Georgia Specialty Crops eligible for these competitive grants include: fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture, Christmas trees, turfgrass (sod) in addition to nursery and greenhouse crops.

Organizations eligible to apply include non-profit organizations, corporations, commodity associations, state and local governments, colleges and universities. Applicants must live, conduct business or have an educational affiliation in Georgia. The application deadline is 5 p.m., Friday, July 17, 2009.

Grants will not be awarded for projects that solely benefit a particular commercial product or provide a profit to a single organization, institution, or individual. Single organizations, institutions, and individuals are encouraged to participate as project partners.

To request an application for this grant program e-mail inquiries to grants@agr.state.ga.us or write Georgia Department of Agriculture, Specialty Crops Block Grant Program, 19 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. SW, Atlanta, GA 30334.

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USDA's Interim Final Rule Amends Environmental Quality Incentives Program

Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer January 15 announced changes to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), the U.S. Department of Agriculture's largest conservation program for working agricultural lands.

USDA published an interim final rule containing the statutory changes to EQIP in the Federal Register today. USDA is seeking public comment on the rule through March 16, 2009.

The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, or 2008 Farm Bill, includes non-industrial private forestland as an eligible land use and provides payments for conservation practices related to organic production or the transition to organic production. It also provides for increased payment rates to historically underserved producers, including limited resource, beginning, and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers.

The EQIP interim final rule can be viewed at the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service's (USDA-NRCS) Web site; at the official government regulation Web Site; and at the Federal Register.

The public comments will be used to finalize the interim final rule. USDA will publish a final rule, which will incorporate statutory changes and establish the program's policy for the life of the 2008 Farm Bill.

USDA-NRCS administers EQIP, a voluntary conservation program that provides technical assistance and payments to help crop and livestock producers address environmental concerns through conservation improvements on agricultural and non-industrial private forest lands. Farmers and ranchers can use EQIP to farm in an environmentally friendly manner and still meet their agricultural production goals. It is designed to produce significant environmental benefits to the public, such as improved soil, water and air quality; and enhanced wildlife habitat. In addition, farmers and ranchers use EQIP to meet federal, state, tribal and local environmental regulations.

Under the amended EQIP, socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers as well as beginning and limited resource producers are authorized to receive payments of up to 90 percent of the costs of installing or implementing a conservation practice. These producers also can receive advance payments of up to 30 percent of the anticipated costs incurred to purchase materials or to contract services to implement a conservation practice.

EQIP will offer financial and technical assistance for conservation practices to certified organic farmers and ranchers as well as producers interested in transitioning to organic farming. Organic producers must develop and carry out an organic system plan. These producers can receive a maximum payment of $20,000 annually, or $80,000 over six years to apply or carry out approved conservation practices contained in that plan.

EQIP will offer financial assistance to forest landowners to develop a forest management plan, along with carrying out the conservation practices contained in the plan. The 2008 Farm Bill also encourages producers to use innovative technologies and cost-effective methods under approved conservation practices to address air quality.

The 2008 Farm Bill reduced the overall payment limitation from $450,000 to $300,000 for a six-year period, except for environmentally significant projects.

The new farm bill also established the Agricultural Water Enhancement Program (AWEP) as a component of EQIP. AWEP provides technical and financial assistance to help producers carry out water enhancement activities on private agricultural land for the purpose of conserving surface and ground water and improving water quality. USDA published a Request for Proposals for AWEP in the Federal Register on Jan. 14, 2009.

For additional information about EQIP, please visit http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/EQIP/ or call (202) 720-1845 during business hours.

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USDA Fields Farm Bill, Prepares Ground for Next Administration

In seven months after late summer congressional passage of the 2008 Farm Bill, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has put in place much of the key components and prepared next items for action by the incoming Administration Jan 20. The 2008 Farm Bill is approximately 50 percent larger than its predecessor, the 2002 Farm Bill, with 15 titles and more than 600 provisions. In total, 170 regulatory actions and over 100 reports and studies have been identified that the Department is required to complete to fully implement.

"USDA employees continue to work hard to implement all the provisions of the farm bill in an efficient and expeditious manner," said Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer. "Producers and consumers should be confident that USDA has laid the foundation for the next Administration to continue this success."

"Within weeks of its enactment USDA began delivering program benefits for 2008 and efforts continue today to ensure the delivery of additional program benefits in 2009," said Deputy Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner. "We have held hundreds of meetings with stakeholders on almost all titles of the Farm Bill, and continue to have USDA representatives available to follow-up."

Highlights of USDA Accomplishments:

Issued multiple Federal Register Notices announcing program parameters for marketing assistance loans, loan deficiency payments, and direct and counter-cyclical payment (DCP) programs for the 2008 crop.
Began crop year 2008 DCP signup on June 25, 2008 (one week after enactment) and ended September 30, 2008. The sign up for farms with 10 base acres or less ended November 26, 2008 following the legislative change enacted in October. USDA enrolled 1.8 million DCP contracts for 2008 and issued $5.1 billion in direct payments.
Published regulations on August 20 and 21, 2008, implementing Federal marketing agreements and orders for milk, fruit, vegetable, and nut crops.
Implemented the 2009-2012 DCP and Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) Program on December 29, 2008. Signup for 2009 DCP is underway and will continue through June 1, 2009, advance payments are currently being issued.
Made available additional Farm Bill funding for conservations programs in FY 2008, including an additional $200 million for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), to help farmers and ranchers nationwide to solve natural resource problems; $150 million for the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP); and $7.5 million for Agricultural Management Assistance (AMA).
Made available more than $4 billion for conservation program funding in FY 2009, including $1.8 billion for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), $1 billion for the EQIP, $570 million for the WRP, $100 million for the Farm and Ranchland Protection Program (FRPP), and $74 for the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP).
Published 8 program regulations between November 2008 and January 2009 for the implementation of CRP, EQIP, WRP, FRPP, WHIP, AMA, the Healthy Forest Reserve Program (HFRP), and the Grassland Reserve Program (GRP).
The Farm Bill renamed the Food Stamp Program, as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, effective October 1, 2008. USDA worked tirelessly to implement a number of important improvements to SNAP that took effect that same day, including an increase in the minimum benefit and standard deduction, elimination of retirement and education savings accounts counting as offsetting income resources, combat pay as income when determining eligibility and application of full cost associated with child care costs.
Made available $547 million for 232 projects to provide clean, safe drinking water in rural America — the majority of that funding from the Farm Bill.

USDA also moved very quickly to implement and award in FY 2008 nearly $28 million under the Specialty Crop Research Initiative, 10 million for the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program; $22 million for the Organic Cost-Share Program; $3.4 million for Farmers Market Promotion Program; $3.5 million to enhance market news reporting for organic products; and $1.5 million for Agricultural Management Assistance to aid in the transition to organic agriculture.
In addition, USDA provided additional work in conservation, rural development, nutrition, research, energy, farm credit and crop insurance sections of the 2008 Farm Bill.

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USDA Announces Amended Farm Bill Provisions and New Sign Up Deadline

Owners and operators of farms with 10 or fewer base acres now have the opportunity to receive payments for the 2008 Direct and Counter-cyclical Payment Program. On Oct. 13, 2008, President George W. Bush signed a bill that made amendments to the 2008 Farm Bill.

These amendments apply to farms with crop acreage bases of 10 acres or less. These changes and clarifications allow some producers more flexibility in farming practices and create new sign-up opportunities with new deadlines for some farms. The amendments also apply to the new Supplemental Revenue Assistance (SURE) Program.

10-Base Acre Limit Changes

As originally enacted under the 2008 Farm Bill, direct and countercyclical payments (DCP) could not be made with respect to farms with crop acreage bases of 10 acres or less. The new law makes that provision inapplicable for the 2008 crop year. Related to this, producers on a farm with 10 acres or less of base may now, under the new law, enroll their farms until Nov. 26, 2008, in the 2008 DCP program. This extension of the original Sept. 30 deadline only applies to producers who were previously excluded because of the minimum acreage requirement. USDA began issuing payments to producers on farms with 10 base acres or less who had already enrolled in the DCP program soon after the President signed the new law.

USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) will now resume allowing reconstitutions for farms with 10 acres of base or less according to normal reconstitution rules and policy. Eligible producers may sign up for DCP at any FSA office or enroll on the FSA website at: www.fsa.usda.gov/dcp click on Access eDCP Services.

Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program (SURE) Changes

Under SURE in the 2008 Farm Bill, producers seeking disaster benefits must generally have obtained crop insurance or coverage under the Non-insured crop disaster Assistance Program (NAP) for all crops on all farms. Under the new law (P.L. 110-398), producers with crops that had 2009 crop insurance sales closing dates before Aug. 14, 2008, may pay a fee through Jan. 12, 2009, to participate in SURE. Producers may make their SURE participation fee payments to their local FSA office at this time.

The SURE program fee is equal to the fee for catastrophic coverage. Payment of the SURE program fee will not make the producer eligible for insurance coverage.

Producers also have a new minimum loss threshold under SURE. Under the new law, to qualify for payments, there must be a production loss of at least 10 percent for at least one crop of economic significance on the farm.

Under the SURE program, the new law provides that when a second crop is planted after the first crop was prevented from being planted, or if such first crop failed, the second planting will not count toward the SURE program guarantee or total farm revenue. This is true except in areas where double-cropping is a normal practice. Producers also are not required to purchase crop insurance or a NAP policy for the second crop.

By provision of the new statute, the purchase of insurance or a NAP policy for grazed acreage is no longer a requirement for the SURE program. However, such insurance is required as a condition for payment for the livestock feed program, tree assistance program and the emergency livestock, honeybees and farm-related fish programs.

In addition, the new law amends SURE eligibility so that crop insurance or NAP coverage is no longer required for crops that are not of economic significance or those where the administrative fee required to buy NAP coverage exceeds 10 percent of the value of the coverage.

Producers can contact their local FSA office for more information regarding SURE program implementation.

NAP (Non-Insured crop disaster Assistance Program) Application Deadline Changes

NAP application closing dates for the 2009 crops have been extended to Dec. 1, 2008. This extension for 2009 NAP applies to those crops having an application closing date prior to Dec. 1, 2008. This extension was authorized due to the late enactment of the 2008 Farm Bill and to accommodate those applicants wanting to participate in disaster assistance programs under the 2008 Act's Supplemental Agricultural Disaster Assistance for their 2009 crops.

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