Posted December 22, 2014
U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA) released
additional details of the Actual Production History (APH) Yield Excursion
Program, according to an Agri-Pulse article available here.
Farm Futures also published an article here
and Hoosier Ag Today here.
The APH
Yield Excursion program was part of the 2014 Farm Bill, and it allows “troublesome
years to be excluded from farm APH when the average county yield is at least 50
percent below the 10 previous consecutive crop years' average yield.”
Beginning
in the 2015 crop year, the program will be available in the actuarial documents
for spring planted corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, grain sorghum, rice, barley,
canola, sunflowers, peanuts, and popcorn to will allow producers who experienced
severe weather to receive a higher approved yield on their insurance policies
through the federal crop insurance program.
“APH Yield
Exclusion will provide additional options to producers who have suffered from
devastating natural disasters,” said RMA administrator Brandon Willis in a release.
The amount
of insurance available is based on the farmer's average historical yields,
according to Farm
Futures.
Previously,
a year with particularly low yields due to severe weather beyond the farmer's
control would reduce the amount of insurance available to the farmer in future
years. When unpredicted bad years occur, farmers will not have to worry about a
natural disaster reducing their amount of insurance in the future years.
For more information on crop insurance programs, please visit
the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
