RMA announces whole revenue premium subsidy
October 06, 2014 | 06:06 AM
The Agriculture Department’s Risk Management Agency announced late Friday that it had established a varying premium subsidy as part of the new Whole-Farm Revenue Protection insurance policy included in the 2014 farm bill.
The new policy will offer more flexible, affordable risk management coverage options to fruit and vegetable growers and producers with diversified farms selling commodities to wholesale markets, local and regional markets, farm identity preserved markets, or direct markets, RMA said in a news release.
The new policy will offer a whole-farm premium subsidy to farms with two or more commodities as long as minimum diversification requirements are met. This will provide diversified farms a higher premium subsidy than previously available. Farms with only one commodity will continue to receive the standard subsidy rate used for basic units.
Brandon Willis
“Whole-Farm Revenue Protection insurance will expand options for specialty crop, organic and diversified crop producers, allowing them to insure all the crops at once instead of one commodity at a time,” said RMA Administrator Brandon Willis. “That gives them the option of promoting crop diversity and helps support the production of a wider variety of healthy foods.”
Whole-farm insurance allows farmers to insure all of the crops and livestock on their farm under one policy rather than insuring each commodity separately, and to purchase coverage from 50 to 85 percent, depending on what producers feel is appropriate for their businesses.
The new Whole-Farm Revenue Protection Policy will be offered as a pilot program for the 2015 insurance year.
More information, including availability of the new policy, will be available mid-November on the RMA website. All federal crop insurance is sold solely through crop insurance agents. See links below.
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition said in a blog post Friday that RMA’s announcement that a farmer who has two or more crops and meets the minimum diversification requirement will receive the higher premium subsidy" is “an important step to level the playing field for diversified farmers.”
“Until now, farmers purchasing the previous AGR and AGR-Lite policies have had the lower basic subsidy rate available, regardless of the number of commodities insured,” NSAC said.
Now, the group said “those purchasing WRFP (the successor to AGR and AGR-Lite) and meeting the diversification requirements for two commodities, will be eligible for the higher whole-farm subsidy levels available on revenue protection products. On coverage options between 50 and 75 percent, the new subsidy rate will be 80 percent. Like with other individual crop policies, the subsidy level declines at the very highest coverage levels.”
Unlike traditional crop insurance, WFRP allows producers to insure the value of all of their crops, including mixed grain/livestock operations and diversified fruit and vegetable farms, rather than insuring crop-by-crop, NSAC noted.
“This makes the policy an especially attractive option for diversified farms with resource-conserving crop rotations, integrated grain and livestock systems, specialty crop growers, and organic producers,” said the group, which represents small, environmentally-mined farmers.
“In many cases individual crop policies do not exist for the crops these farmers grow and even if one does it is often not be available in the state or county where the farmer is located.”
▪ USDA Risk Management Agency
▪ — Agent Locator
The new policy will offer more flexible, affordable risk management coverage options to fruit and vegetable growers and producers with diversified farms selling commodities to wholesale markets, local and regional markets, farm identity preserved markets, or direct markets, RMA said in a news release.
The new policy will offer a whole-farm premium subsidy to farms with two or more commodities as long as minimum diversification requirements are met. This will provide diversified farms a higher premium subsidy than previously available. Farms with only one commodity will continue to receive the standard subsidy rate used for basic units.
“Whole-Farm Revenue Protection insurance will expand options for specialty crop, organic and diversified crop producers, allowing them to insure all the crops at once instead of one commodity at a time,” said RMA Administrator Brandon Willis. “That gives them the option of promoting crop diversity and helps support the production of a wider variety of healthy foods.”
Whole-farm insurance allows farmers to insure all of the crops and livestock on their farm under one policy rather than insuring each commodity separately, and to purchase coverage from 50 to 85 percent, depending on what producers feel is appropriate for their businesses.
The new Whole-Farm Revenue Protection Policy will be offered as a pilot program for the 2015 insurance year.
More information, including availability of the new policy, will be available mid-November on the RMA website. All federal crop insurance is sold solely through crop insurance agents. See links below.
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition said in a blog post Friday that RMA’s announcement that a farmer who has two or more crops and meets the minimum diversification requirement will receive the higher premium subsidy" is “an important step to level the playing field for diversified farmers.”
“Until now, farmers purchasing the previous AGR and AGR-Lite policies have had the lower basic subsidy rate available, regardless of the number of commodities insured,” NSAC said.
Now, the group said “those purchasing WRFP (the successor to AGR and AGR-Lite) and meeting the diversification requirements for two commodities, will be eligible for the higher whole-farm subsidy levels available on revenue protection products. On coverage options between 50 and 75 percent, the new subsidy rate will be 80 percent. Like with other individual crop policies, the subsidy level declines at the very highest coverage levels.”
Unlike traditional crop insurance, WFRP allows producers to insure the value of all of their crops, including mixed grain/livestock operations and diversified fruit and vegetable farms, rather than insuring crop-by-crop, NSAC noted.
“This makes the policy an especially attractive option for diversified farms with resource-conserving crop rotations, integrated grain and livestock systems, specialty crop growers, and organic producers,” said the group, which represents small, environmentally-mined farmers.
“In many cases individual crop policies do not exist for the crops these farmers grow and even if one does it is often not be available in the state or county where the farmer is located.”
▪ USDA Risk Management Agency
▪ — Agent Locator
