Hobby Stripling, State Executive Director of USDA’s Georgia Farm Service Agency, reminds farmers of the approaching deadline to enroll eligible farms into the 2010 Direct and Counter Cyclical Payments Program or DCP. To enroll, contracts must be recorded in the applicable County FSA Office by June 1, 2010, and all persons sharing in the payments generated from the contract must have signed the contract by the deadline or the contract cannot be approved.

USDA urges producers to make use of the eDCP automated website to sign up, or producers can visit any USDA Service Center to complete their 2010 DCP contract by the June 1 deadline.

USDA 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 advance direct payments based on 22 percent of the direct payment.

For more information on this or other programs, simply contact the nearest FSA office.