December 6, 2000

Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman Tuesday provided a list of farmer assistance programs now available. "There are many USDA programs that are available to farmers this year to help them through difficult times," said Glickman. "I urge farmers to call or visit their local USDA office to ensure that they know about all the help they may be eligible for and to sign up before the deadline."

Application deadlines for programs previously announced this year are:

--2000 Oilseeds Program: $500 million in payments is available to the more than 600,000 producers of the 2000 crops of certain oilseeds. Eligible oilseeds include canola, crambe, flaxseed, mustard, rapeseed, safflower, sesame, soybeans, and sunflowers. Application deadline is Jan.12.

--2000 Crop Year Peanut Market Loss Assistance Program: An estimated $61 million is available to partially compensate more than 16,000 peanut producers for low commodity prices and increasing production costs. Application deadline is Feb. 1.

--Flood Compensation Program: $24 million is available to producers to help offset losses due to land inundated with flood waters. Application deadline is Jan.19.

--Wool and Mohair Market Loss Assistance Program: Approximately $11 million in relief is available for farmers who suffered economic loss due to low prices during the 1999 marketing year. Application deadline is Dec. 29.

--Lamb Meat Adjustment Assistance Program: Approximately $10 million is available to producers whose lamb carcasses meet minimum grade specifications. Application deadline is next Aug. 15.

Local USDA Farm Service Agency offices also will begin accepting applications soon for the following programs:

-–2000 Crop Disaster Program (CDP): Funds will be made available to producers who have been affected by crop disaster. The signup period will begin Jan.18.

--2000 Livestock Assistance Program (LAP): An estimated $438 million is available to producers for grazing losses due to weather related disasters. The signup period will begin Jan.18.

--Dairy Market Loss Assistance (DMLA III): Payments to operations that received assistance under DMLA II will be automatically issued to producers later this month. Payments will also be available to new operations and to operations that did not have 12 months of marketing established under DMLA II, and will be based on October 1999-September 2000 marketings. The four-week signup period for these producers will begin in late January.

--1999 Cranberry Crop Market Assistance: Up to $20 million will be available to cranberry producers to help offset low market prices experienced during the 1999 crop year. Farmers will be notified in mid-December concerning the application process which has been simplified by coordinating with existing data held by the Agricultural Marketing Service.

--2000 Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP): Up to $10 million will be available to producers who lost livestock due to natural disaster, fire and anthrax. The signup period will begin Jan. 18.

--Extension of the 1999 Livestock Indemnity Program/Contract Growers (CG-LIP): Program coverage of last year's CG-LIP will be extended through Feb. 7. The signup period will begin Jan. 18.

–-Apple market loss assistance: Up to $100 million will be available to apple producers to help offset low market prices experienced during the 1998 and 1999 crop years. The signup period will begin Jan.18.