USDA EXPANDS REVENUE INSURANCE PLANS; INCREASES COVERAGE LEVELS
Contact: Eric
Edgington (202) 690-2539
Eric.Edgington@rma.usda.gov
WASHINGTON, Oct 1, 1999 - Risk Management Agency (RMA) Administrator Ken Ackerman announced that the Board of Directors of the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) expanded the availability of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) and Crop Revenue Coverage (CRC) programs to include additional states and counties, and increased coverage levels up to 85 percent for selected crops and counties.
"Our expansions and innovations will deliver better protection to producers," said Ackerman. "We"re doing everything possible to give producers the tools they need to manage risk. Congress needs to do its part and pass legislation that will further strengthen the safety net."
The actions approved included:
AGR Pilot Expanded
The current AGR pilot insurance plan will provide coverage in the following additional states and counties for the 2000 and 2001 crop year: Canyon, Payette, and Washington Counties in Idaho; Malheur County, Oregon; all counties in Connecticut (8), Rhode Island (5), and Vermont (14); Aroostook, Franklin, Hancock, Knox, Lincoln, Oxford, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Sagadahoc, Somerset, Waldo, and Washington Counties in Maine; and Coos, Carroll, and Grafton Counties in New Hampshire. The AGR program uses a producer's average revenue from historic Schedule F tax data compared to the expected revenue for the insurance year to provide a level of guaranteed revenue for the insurance period. The pilot targets areas where a number of crops are produced that currently do not have MPCI programs available. FCIC's authority to offer all types of revenue insurance expires after the 2000 crop year. Therefore, a legislative change is needed to implement the board action for the 2001 crop year.
CRC: Expanded and Enhanced
American Agrisurance (AmAg), the creators of CRC, requested, and the FCIC Board of Directors approved the following changes to the program beginning with the 2000 crop year: (1) expand the CRC program to cover corn in all counties where multiple peril crop insurance (MPCI) is available for corn in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and West Virginia; (2) expand the CRC program to cover soybeans in all counties where MPCI is available for soybeans in Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia; (3) provide written agreements from the RMA Regional Service Office to insure a CRC crop in a county without a CRC actuarial table, using rates from CRC acreage with similar characteristics and risk; (4) provide written unit agreements for optional units formed across section lines or optional units from oversized sections; (5) remove the 95 percent price percentage option; and (6) offer 80 and 85 percent coverage wherever FCIC offers such coverage.
The Board also allowed AmAg to make the following changes, beginning with the 2000 crop year, to the CRC durum wheat program: (1) Use the Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGE) durum wheat futures market price to determine the base and harvest prices for spring durum wheat; (2) Offer 80 and 85 percent coverage where FCIC offers such coverage; (3) Offer CRC durum wheat coverage in the following North Dakota counties that have traditionally accounted for some 84 percent of durum produced in the state. Those counties are: Benson, Bottineau, Burke, Cavalier, Divide, McLean, Mountrail, Nelson, Pierce, Ramsey, Renville, Rolette, Towner, Ward, and Williams; and (4) Require CRC spring durum wheat producers to use their durum wheat actual production history, or if not available, the county T-yield in determining their guarantees.
Yield Guarantees Increased
During the 1999 crop year, FCIC offered 80 and 85 percent coverage levels under individual yield coverage plans in certain areas and for a limited number of crops. FCIC will expand the crops and areas where these higher coverage levels will be available during the 2000 crop year. The criteria for expansion included areas with overall good experience and a relatively high proportion of sales at the 75 percent coverage level. The increased coverage will be available for barley, corn, cotton, ELS cotton, flue-cured tobacco, green peas, processing sweet corn, rice, soybeans, sugar beets, and wheat in selected counties. A list of the newly eligible states and crops are included in Attachment 1. Interested producers should contact a crop insurance agent prior to the sales closing date to determine if their county is eligible for the higher coverage levels.
Newly Eligible Crops and States With 80 and 85 Percent Coverage Levels for Crop Year 2000
(A complete listing by state, crop, and county will be available shortly.)
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