SPRINGFIELD — The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency (FSA) State Executive Director Scherrie Giamanco announced the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 extended the authorization of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (the 2008 Farm Bill) for many Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) commodity, disaster, and conservation programs through 2013.

The extended programs include, among others: the Direct and Counter-Cyclical Payment Program (DCP), the Average Crop Revenue Election Program (ACRE), and the Milk Income Loss Contract Program (MILC).

FSA began sign-ups for DCP and ACRE for the 2013 crops Feb. 19. The DCP sign-up period will end Aug. 2; the ACRE sign-up period will end June 3.