Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that USDA has issued final 2009-crop counter-cyclical payments to farmers enrolled in the direct and counter-cyclical program for upland cotton and peanuts.

The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 requires 2009 final counter-cyclical payments to be made as soon as practicable following the end of the marketing year, but no sooner than Oct. 1, 2010.

"The counter-cyclical payment is another important tool that USDA's Farm Service Agency provides for farmers who produce various crops, including cotton and peanuts," said Vilsack. It is vital that we continue to support the hard work of the farmers we depend on these payments to help produce these crops."

Counter-cyclical payments are administered by the Farm Service Agency. The final counter-cyclical payment rate for upland cotton is 1.68 cents per pound. Producers who accepted a partial payment of 1.03 cents per pound in March 2010 will receive 0.65 cents per pound or the difference between the final rate and the partial payment. The 2009 marketing year average price for upland cotton was 62.9 cents per pound.

USDA announced on Oct. 4, 2010, that the final counter-cyclical payment rate for peanuts is $25 per ton ($0.0125 per pound). Producers who accepted a partial payment in March 2010 received $9.20 per ton ($0.0046 per pound). They are due an additional $15.80 per ton ($0.0079 per pound). The 2009 marketing year average price for peanuts was $434 per ton ($0.217 per pound).

According to FSA data, counter-cyclical payments for 2008-crop upland cotton exceeded $1.2 billion so the 2009 crop upland cotton payments are less than 2008 crop. There were no 2008 crop peanut counter-cyclical payments.

The counter-cyclical payment rate is the amount by which the target price for each commodity, specified by the 2008 farm bill, exceeds its effective price. The effective price equals the direct payment rate plus the higher of either the national average market price received by producers during the marketing year or the national average loan rate for the commodity.

A table displaying the target price, average market price, loan rate, direct payment rate, effective price and final counter-cyclical rate for peanuts and upland cotton is available at http://go.usa.gov/aKS.

For each commodity, the counter-cyclical payment for each crop year equals 85 percent of the farm's base acreage multiplied by the farm's counter-cyclical payment yield multiplied by the counter-cyclical payment rate.

For more information on the direct and counter-cyclical payment programs, visit your local FSA office or the FSA website: www.fsa.usda.gov.