New Crop Insurance Option Provides Increased Flexibility

Farmers now have a low-cost option for insuring small parcels of land in one county by combining them into a single enterprise unit with land in a neighboring county under their crop insurance. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Risk Management Agency (RMA) is offering the new endorsement known as the Multi-County Enterprise Unit for farmers interested in covering two counties in the same state under their crop insurance policy. The endorsement is available for spring crops with a Nov. 30, 2018, and later contract change date. Initially, targeted crops include coarse grains (corn, grain sorghum, soybeans), cotton, canola, peanuts, rice, small grains (barley, wheat) and sunflowers.

To qualify for the endorsement, one county must qualify independently for an enterprise unit, and the other county must not qualify for an enterprise unit. Both county crop policies in the Multi-County Enterprise Unit must be within the same approved insurance provider and have the same elections for Multi-County Enterprise Units, insurance plan, coverage level and enterprise unit by practice. Interested farmers should contact their crop insurance agent to discuss options.

Originally published in the March 2019 edition of “Wheat Life”, the official publication of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers.