Crop Insurance Deadlines Quickly Approaching: January 14th and February 28th

Planning on using crop insurance in 2015? Important deadlines are quickly approaching. Find out more below.

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The 2014 Farm Bill brought big changes to crop insurance, especially insurance meant to serve (1) diversified and specialty crop farmers, (2) beginning farmers, and (3) limited resource or socially disadvantaged farmers. Application deadlines are quickly approaching for two of these key programs: the new Whole Farm Revenue Production (WFRP) and the revised Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP).

Deadline to contact FSA about NAP Coverage is January 14th, 2015

In all other years, application closing dates for NAP will depend on the farm county and crop produced. However, in 2015 all noninsured crops are eligible to sign-up for NAP coverage through January 14th. This flexibility is due to delays in the 2014 Farm Bill. Val Dolcini, Administrator of the Farm Service Agency (FSA), recently announced that farmers must contact local FSA agents by January 14th in order to be eligible. RAFI urges farmers to contact their local FSA agents about the requirements for enrollment as soon as possible because this deadline is very firm.

The 2014 Farm Bill not only increased the effective NAP coverage level from 27.5% to up to 65%, but it also provided significant discounts for traditionally underserved farmers:

• Basic coverage (27.5%) is available for free for beginning, limited resource, and socially disadvantaged farmers, and
• Buy-up coverage (50% to 65%) is available at a 50% discount for the same groups.

See USDA’s NAP Fact Sheet for specific definitions for beginning, limited resource, and socially disadvantaged farmers and more details on enrollment.

Farmers can find county FSA agents here.

Deadline for WFRP Applications is February 28th, 2015 for Most North Carolina Counties

The deadline for WFRP applications varies by county but is either February 28th or March 15th. In North Carolina’s top agricultural counties (Duplin, Sampson, Union, Bladen, and Wilkes) the closing date in February 28th. Farmers should use the link and information below to check the application deadline for other counties.

1. Visit https://tinyurl.com/WFRP-ClosingDate.
2. Select “Whole Farm Revenue Protection (0076)” from the Commodity drop down box (#1).
3. Select your state and county in the State and County drop down boxes (#4).
4. Click “View Report.”
5. Click “Dates” once the Commodity Report page loads.

RAFI will continue to post updates as they are available. Look for our analyses on all of these policies soon.