NEWS
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Office of Communications News Room 460-A
Washington, DC 20250-1300
Internet: News@usda.gov   Phone: 202-720-9035
World Wide Web Home Page: http://www.usda.gov

Release No. 0037.03
                             Alisa Harrison (202) 720-4623

       VENEMAN ANNOUNCES ADDITIONAL STEPS
         TO FACILITATE FARM BILL SIGN-UP
Significant Progress Being Made on Farm Bill Sign-Up

      WASHINGTON, Jan. 31, 2003 - Agriculture Secretary
Ann M. Veneman today announced that the U.S. Department of
Agriculture is taking additional actions to assist farmers
in completing sign-up for the Direct and Counter-cyclical
Programs in the 2002 Farm Bill.

      Under the new provisions, producers who did not own
eligible land in prior years and/or did not farm the land
and cannot obtain historical production evidence, the
county committee now can establish a yield.  That yield
will be based on similar farms in the local farming
community or the LDP records for the specific farm.  The
assigned yield from the similar farms cannot exceed the
county average yield.

      "We have seen considerable progress during the past
month on farm bill signup," said Veneman.  "The steps we
are taking today should help those producers who have had
difficulties obtaining some of their records due to
circumstances beyond their control."

      The Secretary said that today's actions should
assist those landowners who are unable to obtain
production evidence to prove yields for their program
payments.  The inability to obtain this information may be
because the landowner has recently purchased a farm or
part of a farm and historical production evidence cannot
be obtained from the previous producer.

      This change is effective immediately and will be
applicable to counter-cyclical yields for those producers
electing to update their bases for eligible commodities,
and for direct payment yields for oilseeds.

      Prior to these revisions, producers applying for
these programs would have had to accept 75 percent of the
county average yield.   Those farmers who have already
accepted the 75 percent county average may also take
advantage of this new procedure by contacting their local
USDA Service Center.

      Veneman noted that as of today sign-up for these
programs was at 33% of eligible farmers, up nearly 20%
from one month ago.  The sign-up average for the major
grain and southern states, which represents more than half
of the total number of eligible farms nationwide, is 41%. 
At the current rate of sign-up, USDA would reach more than
60% of eligible farmers signing up nationwide (and more
than 80% of the major grain/southern state farmers) by the
April 1, 2003 deadline.  USDA expects that approximately
30% of landowners will choose to retain their existing
yields and roll their historical program flexibility
contract base and yield numbers forward.

      "Approximately one-third of eligible farmers have
signed up and we expect another large segment, perhaps
close to a third, will choose to retain their existing PFC
yields and simply roll them forward, which accounts for
about two-thirds," said J.B. Penn, undersecretary for Farm
and Foreign Services.  "We now are focusing on getting the
remaining one-third of producers enrolled in the next two
months.  Today's announcement should help in that regard."

      To participate in Direct and Counter-cyclical
Program, owners must make the base and yield selection by
April 1, 2003.  Producers must sign the direct and
counter-cyclical program contract by June 2, 2003. 
Producers who do not want to accept the program's default
base and yield option must complete sign-up at the county
office before April 1, 2003.

      Secretary Veneman and Undersecretary Penn noted that
with the April 1 deadline fast approaching, they urged
producers who have yet to begin the sign-up process to
contact their local USDA Service Center as soon as
possible to review program details and options.

                        #

NOTE: Information related to the 2002 Farm Bill is located
at http://www.usda.gov/farmbill.  Fact sheets and
questions and answers on today's announcement, as well as
the latest state-by-state sign-up statistics, are also
located on the USDA farm bill website.