Business Of Agriculture: Spring Crop Insurance Deadline Is March 16

By Matt Ritenour

Matt Ritenour is a crop insurance specialist for MidAtlantic Farm Credit and has been helping farmers manage the risks of dealing with Mother Nature and market fluctuations since 2005.

The spring sales season for crop insurance is just around the corner, with important decisions needing to be made and new programs from the 2014 Farm Bill to be carefully considered. Here are just a few of the new changes for the 2015 crop year:
 

• APH Yield Exclusion Option (YE) – This option allows production yields to be excluded from a farms history when the county average yield for that crop year is at least 50% below the 10 previous consecutive average yields.
   
• Beginning Farmer Rancher Benefits
   
• Conservation Compliance
   
• Separate coverage levels for optional and enterprise units by Irrigated and Non-irrigated Practice
   
• Agricultural Risk Coverage/Price Loss Coverage from FSA. The deadline to update yields and base acres has been extended to March 31, 2015. The deadline to pick ARC or PLC will still be March 31, 2015.
   
• Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) – Provides area-based coverage for a portion of your deductible if the PLC program is chosen at FSA.   This option is not available if you choose the ARC program for your crops.
   
• Whole Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP)
   
• Click here for additional USDA information and Fact Sheets on the above topics.

Producers are going to need to be proactive to make sure nothing falls through the cracks this time around. All producers should:

• Verify base acres, yields and commodities planted with FSA
   
• Utilize the Farm Bill decision tools to assist with ARC and PLC coverage options (Kansas State Tool, Texas A&M Decision Aid)
   
• Communicate. Yield updates, base acre reallocation and program decisions are interconnected but made by different parties. Strong communication between landlords, partners and tenants is vital.
   
• Make sure Form AD-1026 is on file with FSA by June 1, 2015 to be eligible for premium subsidy for the 2016 reinsurance year.
   
• Talk to their crop insurance agent to review all available options.

While ARC/PLC yields and base acre updates do not need to be filed until March 31, all spring crop insurance decisions must be made by March 16, 2015.