Amador County – Disaster assistance enrollment for farmers in Amador County opened this week for losses to crops that occurred in 2010.

The California USDA Farm Service Agency will assist in filing for the “Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments” program for 2010 crop year losses. The enrollment period began Nov. 14 for the 2010 losses, for qualifying operations.

Farm Service Agency State Executive Director Valente Dolcini in October said the “program provides a safety net of assistance to producers when disaster strikes,” according to Western Farm Press. Dolcini encouraged “California farmers and ranchers with 2010 crop losses to contact their county FSA office to learn more about the program.”

Two qualifications for the program include that the farm and operations must be within a county that was declared a disaster in 2010, with a designation given by the USDA Secretary. Or the operations must be located in a county contiguous to a disaster declaration, where the natural disaster caused a minimum of 10 percent loss of crop production, and of a crop economically significant to the operation.

Another qualification for the benefits is that any producer of any county is eligible if the operation lost at least 50 percent or more of its typical production due to any natural disaster deemed as qualifying of the benefits.

2010 California counties that were designated as disaster areas by the Agriculture Secretary were Lassen, San Joaquin and Tuolumne counties. The adjacent or contiguous qualifying counties in California include 15 counties, including Amador, Alpine, Calaveras and Sacramento counties.

Another requirement for being eligible for the program funds is that the operations must have been insured through the Federal Crop Insurance Program, for any crop upon which insurance can be made. For any crops not covered by FCIP, the crop must have been covered by the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program.

For more information contact the Elk Grove regional office, at (916) 714-1104.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.