Risk Management Agency: Producers to Receive Automatic Prevented Planting ‘Top-Up’ Payments

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Risk Management Agency has issued the following news release:

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- Approved Insurance Providers to Issue Payments Starting Mid-October

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today that producers currently participating in federal crop insurance who had in 2019 a payable prevented planting indemnity related to flooding, excess moisture or causes other than drought will automatically receive a "top-up" payment. Producers will receive the payment from their Approved Insurance Providers (AIPs) starting in mid-October.

Producers with Yield Protection and Revenue Protection with Harvest Price Exclusion will receive a 10 percent top-up payment, while producers with Revenue Protection will receive 15 percent. They do not need to sign up to receive payments; all producers with a 2019 prevented planting indemnity will receive the top-up.

"It was a challenging planting season for many of our farmers," said Bill Northey, USDA's Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation. "We are doing everything we can to ensure producers receive the help they need.

"USDA is working with AIPs so that producers can receive additional payments as soon as possible," Northey added, "and we appreciate the AIPs for helping us help America's farmers."

The crop insurance industry will deliver the payments as part of the Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act of 2019. After the initial payment, additional payments will be made in the middle of each month as more prevented planting claims are processed.

"Crop insurance is an important program for many producers to help them manage their production and price risks," said Martin Barbre, Administrator of USDA's Risk Management Agency (RMA). "We're leveraging that system to efficiently and effectively deliver much needed support to our farmers."

RMA received commitments from all 14 AIPs to deliver the top-up payments:

* ACE Property and Casualty (Rain and Hail) Insurance Company

* American Agri-Business Insurance Company

* American Agricultural Insurance Company

* CGB Insurance Company

* Church Mutual Insurance Company

* Country Mutual Insurance Company

* Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Company

* Great American Insurance Company

* Hudson Insurance Company

* NAU Country Insurance Company

* Producers Agricultural Insurance Company

* Rural Community Insurance Company

* Stratford Insurance Company

* XL Reinsurance America Inc.

The prevented planting top-up payments are different from the Wildfires and Hurricanes Indemnity Program Plus (WHIP+) payments. (For more information on WHIP+, visit www.farmers.gov/recover/whip-plus.)

More Information

Read RMA's frequently asked questions to learn more about prevented planting. Crop insurance is sold and delivered solely through private crop insurance agents. A list of crop insurance agents is available at all USDA Service Centers and online at the RMA Agent Locator. Learn more about crop insurance and the modern farm safety net at rma.usda.gov.