Farm Progress

USDA’s Risk Management Agency announced a revision to optimize reporting for specialty crop farmers and others.

Compiled by staff

July 1, 2022

2 Min Read
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Specialty crop producers can now benefit from greater flexibility to use their own records to meet crop insurance reporting requirements. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced revisions that will make it easier for specialty crop producers and others who sell through direct marketing channels to obtain insurance, report their annual production, and file a claim. 

“Farming and ranching are inherently complex and often challenging occupations, so anything and everything we can do to streamline processes and requirements are essential,” said Marcia Bunger, Administrator of USDA’s Risk Management Agency. “Optimizing reporting requirements for direct marketers or vertically integrated operations will help make insurance easier and more accessible for countless producers, including those who grow specialty crops and are an important part of our local and regional food systems.” 

Changes include: 

  • A new marketing certification that allows producers to self-identify if they will not have disinterested third-party records, when required, and enables them to use their own supporting production records.

  • Allowing producers to use their own records, thereby limiting the need for Approved Insurance Providers preharvest appraisals as a supporting record. 

These updates also improve transparency in the producer’s policy by adding production reporting definitions, listing the 30-day appeal deadline for good farming practice determinations, clarifying where a producer can find information in the policy, and updating terminology to be consistent across the policy. 

These revisions and other updates come through the Crop Insurance Reporting and Other Changes Final Rule published by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation. This final rule will update the Common Crop Insurance Provisions Basic Provisions, Area Risk Protection Insurance Basic Provisions, and includes changes to individual Crop Provisions.

Added flexibility

Federal crop insurance coverage for specialty crops has grown steadily over the past 15 years with individual crop insurance programs now available for dozens of specialty crops.  

These latest updates and flexibilities build on other RMA efforts to simplify reporting requirements for specialty crop producers and better serve those who sell through direct marketing. RMA implemented changes to Whole-Farm Revenue Protection for the 2021 crop year that streamline revenue reporting for producers who direct market two or more commodities.

Additionally, the new Micro Farm option was rolled out beginning with the 2022 crop year specifically for producers who sell locally, including direct marketing. It reduces reporting requirements, providing more access to the program. 

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

Source: USDA, which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset. 

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