
RMA changes tobacco quality, rotation requirementsRMA changes tobacco quality, rotation requirements
• This allows producers flexibility in marketing or disposing of their tobacco while retaining the maximum value of their crop insurance benefits.• Tobacco will not be insurable on any acreage on which tobacco was planted in the two previous crop years.
January 18, 2013

The USDA's Risk Management Agency (RMA) has announced quality adjustment changes and a crop rotation requirement for flue-cured and burley tobacco beginning with the 2013 crop year.
Quality adjustment factors were modified for the least valuable grades of flue-cured and burley tobacco.
Producers are no longer required to destroy tobacco assigned these grades to qualify for quality adjustment. Producers can choose to destroy the least valuable graded tobacco resulting in no production to count, or sell it and have 20 percent of that production count toward their insurance guarantee.
This allows producers flexibility in marketing or disposing of their tobacco while retaining the maximum value of their crop insurance benefits.
Beginning in 2013, flue-cured tobacco in all states, and burley tobacco planted in Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia are subject to a crop rotation requirement to be eligible for crop insurance.
Tobacco will not be insurable on any acreage on which tobacco was planted in the two previous crop years. Producers should review their cropping history and plan accordingly to ensure their acreage is eligible for tobacco crop insurance.
Tobacco producers are encouraged to visit with their crop insurance agent to learn specific details for the 2013 crop year.
Federal crop insurance policies are sold and delivered solely through private insurance companies and agents.
A list of crop insurance agents is available at all USDA Service Centers in the United States or on RMA's web site at http://www3.rma.usda.gov/tools/agents/.
For additional information from the Georgia Farm Bureau, visit http://www.gfb.org/.
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