Source: USDA, 7/13/21
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is
authorizing emergency procedures to help agricultural producers impacted by
extreme drought conditions. USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) is
working with crop insurance companies to streamline and accelerate the
adjustment of losses and issuance of indemnity payments to crop insurance
policyholders in impacted areas.These new crop insurance flexibilities are part of USDA’s broader response to help producers impacted by drought, in the West, Northern Great Plains, Caribbean and other areas. “Crop insurance helps producers weather natural disasters like drought,” RMA Acting Administrator Richard Flournoy said. “We recognize the distress experienced by farmers and ranchers because of drought, and these emergency procedures will authorize insurance companies to expedite the claims process, enabling them to plant a new crop or a cover crop.” Emergency procedures allow insurance companies to accept delayed
notices of loss in certain situations, streamline paperwork, and reduce the
number of required representative samples when damage is consistent. These
flexibilities will reduce burdens on both insurance companies and producers to
help mitigate drought effects. Producers should contact their crop insurance agent as soon as
they notice damage. The insurance company must have an opportunity to
inspect the crop before the producer puts their crop acres to another
use. If the company cannot make an accurate appraisal, or the producer
disagrees with the appraisal at the time the acreage is to be destroyed or no
longer cared for, the insurance company and producer can determine
representative sample areas to be left intact and maintained for future
appraisal purposes. Once an insured crop has been appraised and released, or
representative strips have been authorized for later appraisal, the producer
may cut the crop for silage, destroy it or take any other action on the land
including planting a cover crop. Additional information on these emergency procedures is available on RMA’s Crop Insurance and Drought Damaged Crop webpage. Other USDA Assistance Producers impacted by drought may also qualify for other USDA
programs, including disaster assistance programs that help offset losses as
well as conservation programs that help producers build resilience to drought.
Producers should visit farmers.gov, where they can use the Disaster Assistance Discovery Tool or Disaster-at-a-Glance fact sheet to learn more about program or loan options. More Information 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.
|