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Contact: John Shea, 202-690-0437

"BUY IN" WAIVER NOT APPLICABLE FOR 2009

WASHINGTON, Jul 28, 2008 - USDA's Risk Management Agency (RMA) reminds policyholders and approved insurance providers of the 2008 crop year link between crop insurance and the Farm Service Agency's (FSA) Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments, or SURE program.

While the "buy in" waiver is allowed for 2008, producers must purchase insurance in the 2009 and future crop years in order to qualify for disaster assistance.

For the 2008 crop year, producers must 'buy-in' to participate in the SURE program by Sep 16, 2008. Beginning with the 2009 crop year, however, to maintain eligibility for the Supplemental Disaster Programs, producers must obtain a policy or plan of insurance of at least catastrophic (CAT) level coverage for 2009. For those crops that are noninsurable, coverage under the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program must also be timely obtained.

Since the 2008 final date to buy-in for SURE is Sep 16, 2008, producers with fall commodities will need to be making crop insurance decisions for the 2009 crop year at about the same time.

FSA SURE Program News Release | Agent Locator