Home Farm Policy Menu Making Sense of Federal Programs The Non-Insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) Sustainable Farming Connection Where farmers find and share information. Making Sense of Federal Programs: The Non-Insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) Many farmers grow at least some crops for which federal crop insurance is not available. The Non-Insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) is a USDA program that provides disaster assistance for many of these crops. For example, depending on the area of the country, crop insurance is not available for many forage crops. These forage crops typically are eligible for NAP benefits. As is the case with crop insurance, NAP does not cover losses that USDA believes were caused by failure to follow good farming practices. Farming practices recognized by the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) as compatible for the conditions in the area should be acceptable for NAP purposes. USDA has acknowledged that alternative farming practices and innovations that are supported by CSREES data are good farming practices. Two additional difficulties may arise with the NAP program. The first involves record keeping. In order to be eligible for NAP, USDA will insist that farmers have good production records. If the crop was sold through commercial channels, for example, commercial receipts, settlement sheets, warehouse ledger sheets, and load summaries are likely to be acceptable. Many crops, however, will not have such commercial records. In this case, other documentary evidence may be used to verify information provided by the farmer. Examples of acceptable documentary evidence include sale tickets or measurements taken at the time of the harvest or very shortly after. Second, in order for NAP to be available to a farmer, USDA must conclude there has been a 30 percent loss of the particular crop in that area. If the crop in question is not commonly grown, the local USDA office may need to be reminded to consider that crop for the NAP program. Top of Page Next: USDA Programs and Appeals Home Farm Policy Menu Making Sense of Federal Programs The Non-Insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) ©1997 Committee for Sustainable Farm Publishing Please read about our usage permission policy and disclaimer. Send comments, suggestions and questions to the site author: Craig Cramer cdcramer@clarityconnect.com Coded using HoTMetaL Pro 3.0. Best viewed in Netscape 3.0 or later. Please see our credits page for more information. http://sunsite.unc.edu/farming-connection/farmpoli/features/makesens/nap.htm