NCC Lauds USDA’s Prompt Payment Distribution

MEMPHIS –The National Cotton Council (NCC) thanked USDA after the agency announced today that it had begun distributing Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) annual rental payments to this nation's participants and that it will begin distributing 2013 Direct Payments and 2012 Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) program payments on October 24.

NCC Chairman Jimmy Dodson said, "The U.S. cotton industry is very grateful for USDA's timeliness on these distributions, which had been scheduled to be issued earlier in the month, but were delayed due to the lapse in federal funding. This will facilitate orderly crop marketing as well as the availability of working capital as the peak harvest season approaches."

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement that, "Farmers, ranchers and rural landowners across the country count on USDA programs and the payment delays due to the shutdown were an unnecessary burden. USDA has prioritized making these scheduled payments without any further delay and Farm Service Agency staff have worked hard to get this assistance out the door as quickly as possible."

USDA's release noted that producers will receive payments on almost 700,000 CRP contracts on 390,000 farms covering 26.8 million acres.

Direct payments for 2013 for the DCP and ACRE programs are being made to the more than 1.7 million farms enrolled in the FSA's programs. ACRE payments for 2012-crop barley, corn, grain sorghum, lentils, oats, peanuts, dry peas, soybeans, and wheat are scheduled to be released on October 24 and contingent upon national average market prices and yields in each state. ACRE payments for large chickpeas, small chickpeas, canola, crambe, flaxseed, mustard seed, rapeseed, safflower, sesame, and sunflowers are scheduled to be made in early December and for long grain rice and medium and short grain rice in early February 2014 when the final 2012-13 market year average price data becomes available.

The 2008 farm bill, extended by the American Tax Payer Relief Act of 2012, provides authority to enroll land in DCP, ACRE and CRP through September 30, 2013, however, no legislation has been enacted to reauthorize or extend this authority. Effective on October 1, 2013, FSA does not have legislative authority to approve or process applications for these programs.

For more information on CRP, DCP and ACRE, producers should contact their local FSA office or visit FSA's website at www.fsa.usda.gov.