Contact: Eric Edgington (202) 690-2539
Eric.Edgington@rma.usda.gov

Washington, December 17, 1999--Diversified farmers in six Pennsylvania counties are now eligible for an innovative whole farm insurance revenue insurance pilot program called the Adjusted Gross Revenue crop insurance program. This new crop insurance is now available in Berks, Carbon, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Monroe, and Northampton counties for both the 2000 and 2001 insurance years, according to August Schumacher, Jr., undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services and chairman of the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation board of directors.

"The pilot whole farm insurance should work well for Pennsylvania's family farms that grow multiple crops. Many of these diversified producers have few options under traditional crop insurance programs," said Schumacher. "We"ve worked closely with Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Hayes, the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, and local farmers to make this type of protection available to producers."

The adjusted gross revenue insurance plan provides insurance based on the lesser of the individual producer's previous 5-year average Schedule F tax information or the expected revenue for the insurance year. This single insurance product covers all agricultural commodities produced by the policyholder. Expanding the whole farm pilot program will provide more experience in insuring whole farm income throughout the United States.

The AGR program is currently available in 82 counties in Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

The 2000 sales closing date for AGR in Pennsylvania is March 15, 2000. A listing of crop insurance agents is available at local Farm Service Agency offices and USDA Service Centers or at the Risk Management Agency website at www.rma.usda.gov/tools/agents. Also see the AGR Fact Sheet (PDF; 38Kb).