As you prepare for planting remember:
“Crop insurance is the only input guaranteeing revenue.”
Last year’s crop season confirmed the value of crop insurance, says Doug Burns, vice president of insurance at Farm Credit Services of America.
?Our customers received over $310 million (in) indemnities, in our trade area for Farm Credit Services of America. That?s almost double of the year prior. In the state of Iowa, our customers received over $42 million in claims,” Burns said.
The sales closing date for spring-planted crops is Monday, March 16. Producers must make two important decisions, according to Burns.
?One is a farm bill decision and the second is a crop insurance decision,” Burns said. “They (producers) need to tie those decisions together because they can affect each other.”
Federal lawmakers made revisions to Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) elections under the 2018 Farm Bill. Producers choosing to enroll in the Price Loss Coverage program are eligble for a 65-percent federally subsized policy, which is called a Supplemental Coverage Option.
“It’s an area-based policy that goes up to 86-percent. It’s very attractive,” Burns said. “A lot of producers didn’t take advantage of that previously. With producers looking at PLC as an option, that opens up the door for that,” Burns said.
Farm Credit Services of America can assist you in selecting a crop insurance policy. They pride themselves in “taking the emotion out of the decision-making process.”
?We have a new, exclusive tool called Optimum, which allows our agents to look at a number of crop insurance policy options, subsidies and market conditions to help producers make the best crop insurance decision for their operation. We like to take the emotion out of it and make it a market-driven decision,? Burns said.
