Deadline Sept. 22 to Sign Up for Fruit Disaster Program

From the USDA:

The enrollment period for the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program ends Sept. 22.

USDA New York Farm Service Agency (FSA) Executive Director
James Barber said the assistance is offered for losses to bush or
tree fruit crops due to frost or freeze during the 2012 crop year. The program, authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill, provides supplemental NAP payment to eligible producers.

Farmers who did not have access to crop insurance and are in primary and adjacent counties that received a Secretarial disaster designation because of frost or freeze in 2012 are eligible for NAP
assistance. Losses due to weather damage or other adverse natural occurrences may also qualify.

“Fruit producers who experienced significant financial losses from weather-related damages in 2012 are encouraged to visit a local FSA office to enroll in the NAP Program," said Barber. "This disaster program will provide producers with long awaited disaster relief."

To expedite applications, producers who experienced losses are encouraged to collect records documenting these losses in preparation for sign-up. 

Producers also are encouraged to contact their FSA county office to schedule an appointment prior to the Sept. 22, 2014 deadline. Limited resource, socially disadvantaged, and beginning producers are eligible for premium reductions and also may be eligible for fee reductions.

The following counties are eligible for NAP frost/freeze assistance: Onondaga, Cayuga, Oneida, Oswego, Cortland, Madison, Wayne, Jefferson, Lewis, Seneca, Albany, Allegany, Broome, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, Chenango, Columbia, Delaware, Dutchess, Erie, Essex, Fulton, Genesee, Greene, Hamilton, Herkimer, Livingston, Monroe, Montgomery, Niagara, Ontario, Orange, Orleans, Otsego, Putnam, Rensselaer, Rockland, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Schuyler, Steuben, Sullivan, Tioga, Tompkins, Ulster, Warren, Washington and Wyoming.

Further information on NAP is available on FSA's website http://www.fsa.usda.gov/nap   or by

contacting a local FSA office: http://offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locator/app?state=ny&agency=fsa