USDA Prevented Planting Crop Insurance Stakeholder Listening Session

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently published a Request for Information, announcing public listening sessions and soliciting public comments on possible changes to prevent planting crop insurance coverage.  Coinciding with the public comment period, USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) will hold in-person and virtual listening sessions from June through August. One of the twelve in-person listening sessions held throughout the United States will be in Wharton County.

The request for information on prevented planting requests input on prevented planting topics to include:

• Harvest Price Option – Feedback on whether to allow the prevented planting payment calculations to be based on the higher of projected price or harvest price under the revenue protection plan of insurance.
• “1 in 4” Rule – Input on the challenges or experiences since the rule (to be eligible for a prevented planting coverage acreage must have been planted to a crop, insured, and harvested in at least 1 out of the previous 4 crop years) was implemented nationwide.
• 10 percent additional coverage option – Input on if RMA should reinstate the option to buy-up prevented planting coverage by 10 percent.
• Contract price – Whether prevented planting costs are higher for contracted crops and how prevented planting payments should be calculated for contract crops.
• General – Willingness to pay additional premium for expanded prevented planting benefits, recommendations on other prevented planting limitations, etc.

RMA will hold a virtual listening session via Microsoft Teams on June 8 and at least a dozen in-person sessions over the next few months. Additional details on the virtual and in-person listening sessions are available on the RMA website HERE.

The request for information, which includes details for submitting feedback, is available in this Federal Register notice HERE.

Prevented planting insurance provisions provide valuable coverage when extreme weather conditions prevent expected plantings. Prevented planting is when a producer is unable to plant an insured crop due to an insurable cause of loss in time to grow a viable crop. Final planting dates and late planting periods are detailed in a producer’s crop insurance policy, and they vary by crop and location. Prevented planting coverage is intended to assist with normal costs associated with preparing the land up to the point of seed going into the ground (pre-plant costs).