Washington Ag Today March 8, 2010 Next Monday, March 15^th is the spring crop sales closing date for federal crop insurance for 2010.

One change for this year is an expansion of the availability of the Multi-Peril Crop Insurance for Buckwheat in Washington in Franklin, Grant and Walla Walla counties. Buckwheat production under a contract with a business enterprise equipped with facilities appropriate to handle and store buckwheat production is eligible for MPCI.

Another change this year is insurance based on contract prices for all practices of certain specialty types of barley including malting, waxy hulled, waxy hulless and hulless types. That is available in all Washington barley counties this year except Klickitat and Yakima.

Jo Lynne Seufer with the regional office of the Risk Management Agency says that March 15^th deadline applies to buckwheat and barley coverage.

Seufer: “As well as our other spring seeded crops which includes dry peas, dry beans, oats and rye, but also our Adjusted Gross Revenue Lite policy. The whole farm policy is available in every county in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska. It is for what anyone grows and has on their tax form so it is a very popular program.”

That’s only for new applications for AGR-Lite. The deadline has passed for existing policy holders.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.