FERRIDAY, La. – More than 1,000 Concordia farmers could benefit from market loss assistance payments signed into law Tuesday by President Clinton, said Kevin Case, director of the U.S. Farm Service Agency in Ferriday.

Randy Meng, who farms cotton, soybeans, corn and milo near Ferriday, said the payments could be what keeps many farmers from going out of business.

Meng admitted that prices have stayed so low for so long that she has stopped tracking them.

&uot;(The payments) sure will mean a lot to a lot of farmers,&uot; she said. &uot;I know I’m looking forward to mine.&uot;

Prices reported Tuesday included 56.64 cents a pound for cotton, 233 1/2 cents a bushel for corn, $6.84 a hundredweight for rice and 505 3/4 cents per bushel for soybeans.

The $4.5 million in payments about 730 parish farmers should receive to help make up for low prices they receive for their crops, will be in addition to $4.5 million in payments parish farmers have already received this year.

Only farmers with a history of planting &uot;program crops&uot; — which is every crop except soybeans — and have production flexibility contracts with the FSA will be eligible for the additional payments, which should be made in September, Case said.

&uot;The secretary of agriculture will have discretion as to whether the payments need to be made depending on if prices rise,&uot;&160;Case said.

&uot;But I&160;believe (the payments) will be made.&uot;

The aid package Clinton signed Tuesday includes $5.5 billion for payments to grain and cotton farmers, $8.2 billion to expand and cut the cost of federal crop insurance over five years and $1.6 billion for other programs.

That includes about $300,000 that would go to help more than 300 parish soybean farmers, Case said. However, those numbers are not final.