In a news release dated July 23, 2015, the United
States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that the federal crop
insurance program will be expanding to provide fruit and nut producers with
greater coverage options. According to USDA,
under the new program, producers in select counties will now have the ability to
purchase a Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) and the Actual Production History
(APH) Yield Exclusion as part of their overall crop insurance coverage.
USDA stated that “SCO is an area-based policy
endorsement that can be purchased to supplement an underlying crop insurance
policy. It covers a portion of losses
not covered by the same crop’s underlying policy.” As a result of the new
program expansion, “almonds, apples, blueberries, grapes, peaches, potatoes,
prunes safflower, tomatoes, and walnuts” are eligible for SCO in select
counties in 2016.
USDA further asserted that “[t]he APH Yield
Exclusion allows farmers, with qualifying crops in eligible counties, to exclude
low yields in exceptionally bad years (such as a year in which a natural
disaster or other extreme weather occurs) from their production history when
calculating yields used to establish their crop insurance coverage.” As a result of the announced change to the
crop insurance program, “apples, blueberries, grapes, peaches, potatoes, prunes
safflower, tomatoes, and walnuts.” will now be eligible for APH in select
counties in 2016.
According to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, “[p]roviding
these [crop insurance] options for our producers of fresh fruit and nuts gives
them the stronger safety net they need to continue farming, even after
particularly bad years.”
For additional information regarding crop insurance,
please click here.
Written by M. Sean High - Staff Attorney
July 27, 2015
