Congratulations to the newly elected and re-elected 2010 Farm Service Agency county committee members. They are:

Bee County — Troy Berthold, COC representative and Arturo Gaitan, first alternate.

Live Oak/McMullen County — Herbert Alan Krietsch, COC representative and Gordon Benham, first alternate.

FSA appreciates all the voters for taking the time to complete the election ballot. The county committee system works only because of your participation.

DCP sign-up continues

Enrollment for the 2010 Direct and Counter-Cyclical Program (DCP) has begun and will continue through June 1. FSA computes DCP Program payments using base acres and payment yields established for each farm. Eligible producers receive direct payments at rates established by statute regardless of market prices. For 2010, eligible producers may request to receive advance direct payments based on 22 percent of the direct payments for each commodity associated with the farm. Counter-Cyclical payment rates vary depending on market prices and are issued only when the effective price for a commodity is statutorily set below its target price.

Eligible producers for the DCP Program are also eligible to enroll in the Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) Program. The enrollment period for the ACRE Program has begun and will continue through June 1.

SURE sign-up

Sign-up for the 2008 Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments program (SURE) began on Jan. 4. SURE 2008 is for those who suffered crop production losses during crop year 2008. SURE provides crop disaster assistance payments to eligible producers on farms that have incurred crop production or crop quality losses. The program takes into consideration crop losses on all crops grown by a producer nationwide. SURE provides assistance in an amount equal to 60 percent of the difference between the SURE farm guarantee and total farm revenue.

If there is no Secretarial Disaster Designation, individual producers may also be eligible for SURE if the actual production on the farm is less than 50 percent of the normal production on the farm due to a natural disaster. For SURE, a farm is defined as all crops in which a producer had an interest nationwide.

NAP Production Reporting

Production records for individual crops need to be filed with our office to establish an approved NAP yield. If this is the first year you participated in NAP, you can provide production and acreage information from prior years to establish your yield. If you participated in NAP in previous years, you must report your production and acreage on a yearly basis to keep your yield up-to-date. Records submitted must be reliable and verifiable. Records need to show crop disposition. It is recommended producers submit 2009 production records as soon as possible after harvest. All production records must be submitted by the subsequent crop year’s final acreage reporting date.

Acreage certification

Producers are strongly encouraged to certify their acreage with this office. A complete acreage certification is required if you do the following:

•Plan to participate in DCP or ACRE

•Plan to participate in the 2010 LDP or Commodity Loan Program

•Plan to participate in NAP

• Participate in CRP

•Maintain eligibility for Disaster Assistance Programs (LFP, SURE)

Final dates to certify your crops are as follows:

May 1 — Small grains (wheat, oats, barley, etc.)

May 15 — Native and improved pastures (hay or grazed)

May 15 — Spring seeded crops (corn, grain sorghum, cotton, etc.)