SECRETARY KAWAMURA ENCOURAGES SWEET CHERRY GROWERS TO ATTEND USDA INSURANCE WORKSHOPS IN THE CENTRAL VALLEY

New Crop Insurance Program Released with Sales Closing Date of January 31, 2009

SACRAMENTO – California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura encourages growers to attend one of a several USDA workshops on a new crop insurance program for sweet cherries. The USDA’s Risk Management Agency announced the program earlier this year and will hold workshops introducing the Actual Revenue History (ARH) Cherry Pilot Crop Insurance Program to growers.

USDA Risk Management Agency workshops will be held in the following locations:

December 2, 2008, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Fresno County Farm Bureau
1274 W. Hedges Ave.
Fresno, CA

December 2, 2008, 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Tulare County Farm Bureau
737 N. Ben Maddox Way
Visalia, CA

December 3, 2008, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
U.C. Cooperative Extension – Kern County
1031 S. Mt. Vernon Ave.
Bakersfield, CA

In 2007, California had 30,000 bearing acres of sweet cherries valued at more than $155 million. This ARH program will help to protect against losses from low yields, low quality or any combination of these events.

Under this new pilot program, growers will certify their historical annual acreage, production and revenue for four years. To calculate approved revenue, growers will need to certify historical annual revenue records on a unit basis. Growers who do not have 4 years of revenue records will use a transitional revenue system to calculate their guarantee.

For further information on the ARH program and workshops please contact the USDA Risk Management Agency’s Davis Regional Office at (530) 792-5870.