Crop insurance flexibilities for drought-impacted farmers and ranchers

Crop insurance flexibilities for drought-impacted farmers and ranchers

In response to extreme drought conditions, the USDA is authorizing emergency procedures to help agricultural producers. The Risk Management Agency (RMA) is working with crop insurance companies to streamline and speed up the adjustment of losses and issuance of indemnity payments to policy holders in drought 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. 

“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,” explains RMA acting administrator Richard Flournoy.

What flexibilities do USDA’s emergency procedures provide?

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 farmers to help mitigate drought effects.

What should farmers and ranchers do with these crop insurance flexibilities?

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.

What other help is available for producers suffering from drought?

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.