RMA ANNOUNCES UP TO $5 MILLION IN FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE IN 15 STATES

WASHINGTON, Feb 24, 2004 - USDA's Risk Management Agency (RMA) today announced that Congress has made available up to $5 million to reduce the cost of crop insurance for producers in 15 historically underserved states. RMA's Agricultural Management Assistance (AMA) program will provide these funds as financial assistance to producers as authorized by the Federal Crop Insurance Act (FCIA).

"Producers in the 15 targeted states are becoming increasingly aware of crop insurance as a vital risk management tool," said RMA Administrator Ross J. Davidson, Jr. "We at RMA place strong emphasis on meeting the risk management needs of American agricultural producers, and especially those in this targeted group."

The AMA program for crop insurance is available to producers in the following states: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming. These are the 15 states designated in the law as historically underserved with respect to crop insurance. Three million dollars has been reserved for those states (Pennsylvania and Maryland) that have provided state-funded premium-assistance programs for producers.

To qualify, producers operating in these 15 states must be insured with certain crop insurance policies that have sales closing dates on or after February 16, 2004 and acreage reporting dates before September 30, 2004. No additional application is necessary.

Interested producers should contact their agent regarding program eligibility, availability, and additional restrictions. A list of crop insurance agents is available at local Farm Service Agency offices or by using RMA's Agent Locator at: http://www3.rma.usda.gov/tools/agents/.