LEWISTON – David Lavway, executive director of USDA’s Farm Service Agency in Maine, has announced that enrollment for the 2007 Direct and Counter-cyclical Payment Program began Oct. 1 and will continue until June 1, 2007. Lavway encouraged farmers to sign up for the program through the online sign-up service.

“Producers will find the Internet-based DCP sign-up service convenient and very user friendly,” said Lavway. “The service is a fine example of the great strides the Farm Service Agency has made in recent years in enhancing its electronic government programs, and I encourage producers with Internet access to use the system.”

Following the June 1, 2007, deadline, FSA will accept late applications through Oct. 1, 2007, with a $100 late fee. While program participants must sign contracts annually, producers can choose not to participate in the program in any given year.

Producers can visit any USDA service center or FSA county office to complete their 2007 contract. Sign-up can be done online, allowing producers to choose payment options, assign crop shares and sign and submit their contracts from any computer with Internet access. Only authorized federal employees have access to information producers submit electronically.

The electronic service is available by going to www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/webapp?area=online&subject=landing&topic-dcp and clicking on “access eDCP service.” To access the service, producers must have an active USDA eAuthentication Level 2 account, which requires filling out an online registration form at www.eauth.egov.usda.gov followed by a visit to the local USDA service center for identity verification.