Farmers and other landowners with base acres and yields have until Aug. 3 to enroll in the 2007 Direct and Counter-cyclical Payment program (DCP).

“I encourage all eligible producers to enroll in DCP before the Aug. 3 deadline to avoid paying the late fee,” said USDA Farm Service Agency Administrator Teresa Lasseter.

In March, FSA extended the DCP sign-up deadline to Aug. 3 from the original June 1 deadline. Producers who fail to sign up by Aug. 3, but do so before Sept. 30 (final date to enroll in the 2007 DCP), will pay a late-file fee of $100. Enrollment in DCP for the 2007 contract period began Oct. 1, 2006.

DCP provides payments to eligible producers on farms enrolled for the 2002 through 2007 crop years. There are two types of DCP payments — direct payments and counter-cyclical payments. USDA computes payments using the base acres and payment yields established for the farm.

The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 authorized DCP.

More information about DCP is available in the program fact sheet found online at: http://www.fsa.usda.gov/Internet/FSA_File/dcp06.pdf.