KaKansas USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) State Executive Director, Adrian J. Polansky urges producers who want to purchase coverage through the Noninsurable Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) to do so before the sales closing date of  Dec. 2, 2013. The sales closing date is actually Dec. 1, 2013, but producers have until Monday, Dec. 2, 2013, to purchase coverage this year because Dec. 1 falls on a Sunday.

NAP provides financial assistance to producers of noninsurable crops when low yields/grazing loss, loss of inventory or prevented planting occur due to natural disasters including drought, freeze, hail, excessive moisture, excessive wind or hurricanes.

The following crops have a NAP application closing date of Dec. 1,which has been extended to Dec. 2 in 2013:  All Grasses plus Alfalfa, Apricots, Asparagus, Blueberries, Caneberries (Blackberries and Raspberries), Cherries, Clover, Grapes, Lespedeza, Honey, Mixed Forage, Nectarines, Oats, Peaches, Plums, Strawberries, and Teff.

"NAP allows producers to protect their investment by purchasing coverage for noninsurable crops," said Polansky. "Natural disasters are an unavoidable part of farming and ranching and FSA programs like NAP help producers recover when they experience a loss," he said.

In order to meet eligibility requirements for NAP, crops must be noninsurable, commercially-produced agricultural commodity crops for which the catastrophic risk protection level of crop insurance is not available.

In the event of a natural disaster, NAP covers the amount of loss greater than 50 percent of the expected production based on the approved yield and reported acreage.

Eligible producers can apply for coverage using form CCC-471, "Application for Coverage." Producers must file the application and pay a service fee by the Dec. 2nd deadline. The service fee is the lesser of $250 per crop or $750 per producer per administrative county, not to exceed a total of $1,875 for a producer with farming interests in multiple counties.

Limited resource farmers may request a waiver of the service fee at the time the application for coverage is filed.  Producers must recertify their limited resource status for each year that a waiver is requested.

For more information on sales closing dates and NAP, please contact your local FSA county office.