Camacho said he and other CNMI farmers have already asked Congressman Gregorio C. Sablan to help them relay their request to the USDA.
The CNMI Legislature, for its part, has adopted a resolution requesting for the reduction of the service fee.
Sablan, in his letter to Camacho, said he has already contacted USDA.
He said he reviewed U.S. Public Law 110-246, or the 2008 Farm Bill which amended 7 U.S.C. 7333, and raised the service fee for the Noninsured Crop Assistance Program from $300 to $750 per producer, with the maximum total fee per producer per crop year increasing from $900 to $1,875.
According to Sablan, the statutory language regarding a waiver is contained in 7 U.S.C. section 7333 which stated that the USDA secretary can waive the service fee required if the applicant is under a limited resource farmer category.
Based on the USDA Web site, a limited resource farmer or rancher is a person with direct or indirect gross farm sales not more than $142,000 in each of the previous two years.
These include persons with a total household income at or below the national poverty level for a family of four or less than 50 percent of the county median household income in each of the previous two years.
Sablan told Camacho to work closely with his district office to ensure that “our farmers are aware of this resource and encourage them to utilize this tool to determine if they are eligible for a waiver of the service fee.”
He said he has already requested the USDA secretary to designate all CNMI farmers as “limited resource farmers” for a minimum of 10 years or until the farmers reach a resource level where they may be on an equal footing with their stateside counterparts.
