Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the sign-up period for the 2009 crop year Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments (SURE) program begins on Jan. 10, 2011. SURE is one of five disaster programs included in the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 that provides assistance to farmers and ranchers who have suffered losses due to natural disasters.
To be eligible for SURE a farm must have at least a 10 percent production loss on a crop of economic significance, a policy or plan of insurance under the Federal Crop Insurance Act or the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program for all economically significant crops and been physically located in a county that was declared a primary disaster county or contiguous county by the Agriculture Secretary under a Secretarial Disaster Designation. Without a Secretarial Disaster Designation, individual producers may be eligible if the actual production on the farm is less than 50 percent of the normal production on the farm due to a natural disaster.
Producers who suffered losses during the 2009 crop year are encouraged to visit their local Farm Service Agency office to learn more about the SURE program.