Crop Insurance Deadline for Fall-Seeded Crops Approaching

Producers of fall-seeded crops have twenty days remaining to sign up for crop insurance as the deadline for sign-ups is September 30, 2009. Crops affected by this deadline are winter wheat and oats.

Additionally, September 30, 2009, is also the deadline for changing or canceling existing policies. According to Henry English, director of the Small Farm Program at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, such changes must be done in writing. English also points out in Carol Sanders story on the deadline for the Delta Farm Press that disaster payments are tied to crop insurance.

Essentially, a producer must have crop insurance on all crops in order to be eligible for disaster assistance under the new Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments (SURE) program. “For example, if producers grow both row crops and vegetables or row crops and hay, they must have their row crops insured as well as Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance program (NAP) coverage on vegetables or forage, says English.”

SURE is designed to supplement private crop insurance. English says that to get benefits from SURE producers must purchase insurance above the Catastrophic (CAT) level. While farmers do not pay premiums for CAT, there is a $300 processing fee per crop. Farmers with limited resources are exempt from this fee; however, each county has different requirements in order for a farmer to be considered to have limited resources. CAT is “a minimum coverage yield policy that protects against losses in excess of 50 percent.”

Farmers should check with their local Farm Service Agency office to determine what crops need to be insured for SURE eligibility.
To determine if you are a limited-resource farmer click here.
To read the Delta Farm Press story on the crop insurance deadline click here.

Posted; 09/10/09