Prevented Planting Crop insurance

More information coming from the USDA about changes to the Prevented Planting Crop insurance options.

As you likely heard, farmers who planted cover crops on prevented plant acres will be allowed to hay, graze, or chop those fields September 1st, instead of November 1st this year.

The USDA's Risk Management Agency adjusted the 2019 final haying and grazing date to help farmers who were prevented from planting because of flooding and excess rainfall this spring.

Martin Barbre, RMA Administrator

"We've had excessive rainfall, a bomb cyclone, a weather event out in the plain states. There's just a lot of things that havE gone on this year that prevented planting. We expect to be at record levels. A lot of flooding going on across the country."

Members of Congress had urged the move as the quality and quantity of feed produced would decrease by Nov.1, and many parts of the country are in need of feed given the wet conditions and flooding experienced in much of the Midwest.

RMA has also determined that silage, haylage, and baleage should be treated in the same manner as haying and grazing for this year. Producers can hay, graze, or cut cover crops for silage, haylage, or baleage on prevented plant acres on or after September 1 and still maintain eligibility for their full 2019 prevented planting indemnity.

The latest Census of Agriculture revealed that national cover crop acreage increased by 50 percent from 2012 to 2017