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Farmers, ranchers urged to apply for USDA repayments
Farmers and ranchers outside the continental United States are being encouraged to enroll in a program that would reimburse them for the costs of bringing their agricultural products to market.
The sign-up period for the Reimbursement Transportation Cost Payment Program for fiscal year 2019 started last July 15 and will run through Sept. 6, 2019.
The program is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency.
The Consolidated Appropriation Act of 2019 reauthorized RTCP, which offsets a portion of the costs of transporting agricultural products over long distances.
The program allows farmers and ranchers in Alaska, Hawaii and insular areas including Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the CNMI, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the freely associated states of the Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of the Marshall Islands and Republic of Palau, to recover any transportation costs.
This program helps U.S. farmers and ranchers outside the 48 contiguous states who are at a competitive disadvantage when transporting agriculture products to market, according to the USDA.
RTCP payments are calculated based on the costs incurred for transportation of the agricultural commodity or inputs during a fiscal year, subject to an $8,000 per producer cap per fiscal year. In the event that claims for payments exceed the funds available from the program for a fiscal year, payments will be reduced on a pro-rata basis.
For more information on RTCP, farmers and ranchers in the eligible areas can visit their administrative FSA county office or fsa.usda.gov/pricesupport. To find your local FSA county office, visit farmers.gov/service-center-locator. (PR)
