WASHINGTON, Feb. 22, 2005 - Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today announced the availability of up to $5 million to help agricultural producers purchase crop insurance in 15 historically underserved states. USDA's Risk Management Agency (RMA) will provide financial assistance to producers under the Agricultural Management Assistance (AMA) program, authorized by the Federal Crop Insurance Act (FCIA).

"Crop insurance is a vital part of risk management in agriculture," said Johanns. "These funds will help and encourage farmers in underserved states to use crop insurance to manage their price and production risks."

This assistance will be in addition to the subsidy already authorized in the Act. Funding will be provided through USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation. Policies eligible for this additional funding include all buy-up policies for the 2005 crop year having sales closing dates on or after February 10, 2005, and acreage reporting dates before September 30, 2005 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.

Nursery policies signed on or after February 10, 2005 and meeting all the nursery rules and regulations will also be eligible for this assistance. This assistance is not available for catastrophic risk protection policies or for those insured under the Livestock Risk Protection and Livestock Gross Margin plans of insurance.

No additional application is required to be eligible for this assistance. The funding will be automatically applied to all policies meeting the criteria.

For specifics on targeted States assistance, refer to the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation Manager's Bulletin located on the RMA website at http://www.rma.usda.gov/news/managers/2005/pdf/mgr-05-002.pdf.