Crop Insurance

Risk Management and Crop Insurance Options for New England Vegetable Growers

The Risk Management Agency Crop Insurance programs offer several options that are particularly useful for vegetable growers. These include crop-specific policies in fresh market sweet corn and in potatoes, the organic policy, as well as the Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR), and AGR-Lite policy.

Several changes are on the horizon that we think will make FCIC products more attractive to you, and there are some existing options that might make good sense if you fully understand them: AGR, Organic coverage and the option to purchase non-listed crops insurance under a “written agreement:” These are worth a good look.

We encourage you to review the following information , check out the RMA website, http://www.rma.usda.gov/ and to make an inquiry to one of the agencies listed on the website. To find agents on websites, click on agent locator at the left hand side of the screen. CI Agents, who are not actually directly related to RMA or FCIC, are the ones with on-the-ground experience on what works and what doesn’t in your particular situation. Part of the effort to improve service in New England includes increased communications with well informed agents. Your unique scenarios will help this to happen, whether or not you actually buy coverage. A list of crop insurance agents licensed in Massachusetts is below.

CI products can be a very good value if the coverage fits your needs. Due to significant ongoing subsidies from the Federal Government – and some even more advantageous special programs – farmers are not expected to pay for the full cost of coverage.

In addition, we see a trend away from funding the regionally common “disaster based programs” that have sometimes provided free “insurance” in areas where losses are catastrophic. Congress now appears to be under increasing pressure to share the insurance management of risk with the farmer. Those with losses covered by disaster payments one year are now requited to buy CI the next year.  Lenders also see crop insurance as a means to reduce their exposure (and increase your eligibility for better terms). The sooner you at least look into purchasing farm-specific CI, the more likely it is that you will be ready when having this type of coverage is the primary protector, even in a disaster situation.

Due to the lead time on many policies, we encourage you to find out more on your own as soon as possible. If coverage makes sense for you in the next growing season, many applications must be completed in the late summer or early fall of the previous year.

This information is provided by The United States Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency (RMA), in cooperation with: The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, The New England Small Farm Institute,  and the University of Massachusetts Extension.

A useful link for those wanting further information or the newest information as it becomes available from the Risk Management Agency

Articles

• Big Five Types of Agricultural Risk
• 2006 Massachusetts Fresh Market Sweet Corn Commodity Insurance Fact Sheet
• Massachusetts Crop Insurance Fresh Market Sweet Corn Revenue Plan
• 2006 Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern States Organic Crops Commodity Insruance Fact Sheet
• 2006 Massachusetts Potato Commodity Insurance Fact Sheet
• AGR-Lite Program Flyer
• AGR Fact Sheet
• Crop Insurance Agents Licensed in Massachusetts 2005-2006