USDA to host session on crop insurance in Adrian

"The direct feedback

and input that will come

out of this session is

vital in improving

insurance coverage for prevented planting."

Brian FriedenDirector of the RMA Springfield, Illinois, Regional Office

ADRIAN — Agricultural producers are invited to a listening session with the U.S. Department of Agriculture on prevented planting crop insurance Wednesday, July 12, in Adrian.

The session is for producers to provide comments on the Prevented Planting Request for Information published in the Federal Register on May 23, 2023, a news release said. The events will give producers the opportunity to meet with members of the USDA's Risk Management Agency (RMA) and directly comment on their needs and possible changes to prevented planting crop insurance coverage.

The listening session will be from 1 to 3 p.m. July 12 at the Michigan State University Extension Office in the Human Services Building, 1040 S. Winter St. in Adrian.

"We are excited to have this opportunity to meet with producers and receive comments about such an important issue as prevented planting and the topics that are being considered," Brian Frieden, director of the RMA Springfield, Illinois, Regional Office, said in a news release. "One of our top priorities at RMA is providing the best risk management tools we can by listening to our nation's producers. This session helps us accomplish this priority and help our customers the best we can."

Prevented planting insurance provisions provide coverage when extreme weather conditions prevent expected plantings, the release said. 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.

The May 23 request for information on prevented planting outlines several questions for the listening session focusing on topics including:

Harvest Price Option: Feedback on whether to allow the prevented planting payment calculations to be based on the higher of the projected price or the 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 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% additional coverage option: Input on if RMA should reinstate the option to buy-up prevented planting coverage by 10%.

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.

"The direct feedback and input that will come out of this session is vital in improving insurance coverage for prevented planting," Frieden added.

The request for information, which includes specific questions and instructions for submitting written feedback by Sept. 1, is available in the Federal Register notice, which can be found online at www.federalregister.gov/d/2023-10926.

"The direct feedback

and input that will come

out of this session is

vital in improving

insurance coverage for prevented planting."

Brian FriedenDirector of the RMA Springfield, Illinois, Regional Office