IARN — Farmers who suffered crop quality loss due to natural disaster have an important deadline coming up soon.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Quality Loss Adjustment Program (QLA), announced in January, provides financial relief to producers who suffered crop quality loss due to drought, excessive moisture, flooding, snowstorms, tornadoes, or other natural disasters in the years 2018 and 2019.
Elizabeth Walker with the Farm Service Agency recently told KMA Radio that interested farmers must apply through their local county USDA Service Center. The deadline is March 5th.
“This program is for producers who suffered a minimum of 5% quality loss that was related to a disaster in 2018 or 2019,” said Walker. “If it sounds like you might be affected by this, you can call your office and they’ll be able to answer some of your questions.”
In order to qualify, Walker says producers must meet a number of criteria and demonstrate that a natural disaster affected their crop quality.
“You will need to show verifiable evidence such as settlement sheets that prove your quality loss, as well as a direct correlation to a disaster event,” said Walker. “If your settlement sheet doesn’t specify the event, we will just need a statement from you or the elevator that explains what the damage was. At this time, we’re not sure what the payment rate is going to be. That’s going to be determined after all of the national applications have been submitted. The deadline to apply for this program will be March 5th.”
Eligible crops include those for which federal crop insurance or Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) coverage is available, except for grazed crops and value loss crops, such as honey, maple sap, aquaculture, floriculture, mushrooms, ginseng root, ornamental nursery, Christmas trees, and turfgrass sod.
For more information or to apply for the program, contact your local county FSA office or you can call a USDA hotline for one-on-one help at (877) 508-8364.
Story courtesy of the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network
