USDA Update

By Rod Johnson

September 19, 2003

Hispanic Heritage Month is recognized from September 15 to October 18. Hispanic people have played an important role in the exploration and settlement of Colorado. From 1492 to 1700, Hispanic ancestors explored and settled parts of what was later to become the Mexico and the United States. Two very important celebrations are commemorated each year. Mexican Independence Day, September 16, commemorates Mexico's first proclamation of independence from Spain in 1810. Cinco de Mayo, May 5, commemorates a Mexican army victory in the "Batalla de Puebla" against the French in 1862, during the French occupation of Mexico. America's cultural diversity has always been a great strength of our nation. Take a little time to learn more about the Hispanic Culture and their continuing vital contributions to our nation.

In October, the Secretary of Agriculture will be announcing if advance counter-cyclical payments will be available. Most Direct and County-cyclical Payment (DCP) applications signed by producers last spring did not request advance counter-cyclical payments. The problem with counter-cyclical payments is that advance payments are only based on an estimate of what the final payment will be. If the final payment amount is zero, then any advance payments issued would have to be refunded. The County Committee discussed this matter and feels with current workload in the county office, it may be well after the first of the year before any advance counter-cyclical payments would be issued. Recent media reports are indicating there may be a very

small counter-cyclical payment projected in October for wheat. We do not have any information on other crops. Based on the medial reports the first advance payment (30%) would amount to about 1¢ per bushel. I want to stress these are media reports and are not official projections. The FSA Office is not encouraging producers to request advance payments but we can not refuse to accept a request for advance counter-cyclical payments. If a producer wants to receive an advance counter-cyclical payment, the request must be filed no later than October 31, 2003 if it was not originally requested on the DCP application last spring.

Just a reminder the Kiowa County FSA Office now has a web site where the USDA Update article is posted. We are interested in hearing from you if you have any suggestions on items you would like to see on the web site. We don't want to duplicate information that is on other web sites but want the site to be useful to you. The site address is http://www.fsa.usda.gov/co/County%20Webs/Kiowa_county.htm. Please let us know what you think. The e-mail addresses for everyone in the office are also available on the web site.