November 2022 - 16

USDA specialty crop, organic insurance expands
By Cory Blumerick
GreenStone Farm Credit Services
Crop insurance manager
Through upgrades and expansions
of current U.S. Department of
Agriculture crop insurance policies,
including policies for specialty crop
and organic crops, there have never
been better or more reasonable
opportunities for growers to manage
their risk.
The new programs include Micro
Farm Crop Insurance, Whole Farm
Revenue Protection (WFRP) and
Transitional and Organic Grower
Assistance (TOGA).
Micro-Farm Crop Insurance
This new policy available for
growers, including Specialty and
Organic/Transitional, is a simplified
version of Whole Farm Revenue
Protection. The USDA's Risk
Management Agency created MicroFarm
Crop Insurance for producers
with an approved average revenue
of less than $350,000 annually.
Micro-Farm is a heavily subsidized
policy, which results in relatively low
premium for producers compared
to individual crop policies. This is
a simple form of the Whole Farm
Revenue Protection policy that
provides a revenue safety net for all
commodities combined on your farm.
Micro-Farm provides protection
against the loss of insured revenue due
to unavoidable natural causes of loss
during the insurance period. Under
this policy,
insured revenue
can also include
added-value
products, such as
lotions and wine.
Growers who
take Micro-Farm
are ineligible
to utilize any
other underlying
policy, except
for Noninsured
Crop Disaster
Assistance Program (NAP) coverages.
Coverage levels range from 50CORY
BLUMERICK
85%,
with an 80% premium subsidy
through 75%, and lower for coverage
levels of 80-85%. Sales close for late
fiscal tax filers is Nov. 20 and March
15 for calendar-year filers. Note that
producers can participate in MicroFarm
or WFRP as well as the USDAFarm
Service Agency's NAP coverage.
While indemnities can be collected
from both programs for the same
crop/crop year, NAP payments will be
limited to the deductible amount of
the Micro-Farm/WFPR policy.
Highlights of Micro-Farm and
WFRP for 2023 include:
* Micro-Farm is limited to
growers with less than $350,000
in approved annual revenue
per entity, and its big brother
WFRP has a liability limit of $17
million per entity.
* Grower Premiums
1. Premiums are subsidized by
80% for coverage levels of
50-75% for Micro-Farm and
WFRP;
2. There is an additional 10%
subsidy for Beginning or
Veteran Farmer Ranchers
(with less than 10 years of
farming history) for MicroFarm
and WFRP programs;
and
3. There is an additional 10%
subsidy through the 2023
TOGA program for entities
producing any certified
organic or transitional crops
for Micro-Farm and WFRP.
Add the above three subsidies
together, and some growers may qualify
for a zero premium revenue policy!
Highlights of the TOGA premium
benefits include:
* Ten percentage points of
premium subsidy for all crops in
transition, (for individual crop
policies, if available);
* Five-dollar per acre premium
benefit for certified organic
grain and feed crops; and
* For individual crop policies, if
available, 10 percentage points
of premium subsidy for all
WFRP policies covering any
number of crops in transition
to organic or crops with the
certified organic practice.
Producers who have additional
individual crop insurance
policies will also receive the
applicable premium assistance
on those policies.
We encourage all organic and
specialty producers to reach out
to discuss crop insurance options,
especially growers that fit under the
$350,000 cap for Micro-Farm and
those larger diverse growers that want
to explore insuring up to $17 million
in crop revenue. Though for most
producers the sales close is not until
March 15, 2023, it is important to
make the decision prior to Nov. 20 if
any underlying or NAP coverages need
to be modified or canceled.
Please reach out to discuss what
these new options mean for you, and
how they can help you manage your
risk effectively. FGN
16 | FruitGrowersNews.com
http://specialtygrowers.org/everythinglocal.html http://www.FruitGrowersNews.com
November 2022

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