Farmers have the chance to voice their thoughts on a USDA program. The USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) is gathering feedback on possible changes to prevented planting crop insurance coverage. According to the RMA, prevented planting provisions in insurance policies can provide valuable coverage when extreme weather conditions prevent expected plantings. The agency is hosting virtual and in-person listening sessions around the country. RMA Administrator Marcia Bunger says the agency will use the feedback to provide better crop insurance options in the future.
“We’ll accumulate them, digest them and they will eventually be made available for public viewing,” Bunger said. “We don’t have a date for that yet, because we’ll have to get past that September deadline for the written comments, but at some point, you can expect them to be made available at USDA on our website.”
Bunger says the listening sessions and comments from farmers make a difference.
“People think, ‘oh, you went to a listening session? You know, they’re not gonna listen to you.’ I disagree, now sitting on this side of the table,” she said. “Farmer feedback is the best.”
RMA is interested in public input on the following:
- Additional prevented planting coverage based on harvest prices in situations when harvest prices are higher than established prices initially set prior to planting;
- The requirement that acreage must have been planted to a crop, insured, and harvested, in at least 1 of the 4 most recent crop years;
- Additional levels of prevented planting coverage; prevented planting coverage on contracted crops; and other general prevented planting questions.
Comments are due September 1, 2023, and can be submitted online at regulations.gov. More information can be found on the RMA website.
Sabrina Halvorson
National Correspondent / AgNet Media, Inc.
Sabrina Halvorson is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, and public speaker who specializes in agriculture. She primarily reports on legislative issues and hosts The AgNet Weekly podcast. Sabrina is a native of California’s agriculture-rich Central Valley.