The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA) is reminding producers their crop insurance premiums for the 2019 crop year are due January 31. Under this change, policies that do not have the premium paid by that date will have interest attached on February 1, calculated from the date of the premium billing notice.
USDA had deferred to January 31, 2020, the accrual of interest on 2019 crop year insurance premiums for most policies with a premium billing date of August 15, 2019, to help the large number of farmers and ranchers affected by extreme weather in 2019.
The extended interest deferral built on other steps taken by USDA to support farmers and ranchers impacted by flooding and other disasters. As of January 13, RMA has paid roughly $8.1 billion in overall claims for the 2019 crop year. Producers are encouraged to contact their crop insurance agents for more information or assistance.