The Risk Management Agency (RMA) is amending the Forage Seeding Crop Insurance Provisions via final rule with request for comments. The final rule with request for comment was published in the Federal Register on December 10, 2018. The intended effect of this action is to update the policy to better reflect current agricultural practices. The following policy modifications were made to the Forage Seeding Crop Insurance Provisions:

• Added the definition of “adequate stand” to allow revision of loss adjustment procedures to count the number of live stems rather than live plants.
• Updated the cancellation and termination dates to allow for expansion of the fall-planted practice.
• Simplified insurable acreage provisions by removing references to specific states and counties and applying same replanting requirements to all insurable areas.
• Moved “end of insurance period” dates to the actuarial documents.
• Updated several definitions to align with the Common Crop Insurance Policy, Basic Provisions, and terms defined in other crop policies.

RMA will accept written comments on this final rule until close of business January 9, 2019. RMA will consider these comments and make changes to the rule if warranted.

RMA prefers that interested persons submit comments electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Interested persons may submit comments, identified by Docket ID No. FCIC-18-0002, by any of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: www.regulations.gov. Direct link to the Forage Seeding docket: www.regulations.gov/document?D=FCIC_FRDOC_0001-0175.
  Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
• Mail: Director, Product Administration and Standards Division, Risk Management Agency, United States Department of Agriculture, P.O. Box 419205, Kansas City, MO 64133-6205.

All comments received, including those received by mail, will be posted without change to www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided. Once these comments are posted to this website, the public can access all comments at its convenience from this website. All comments must include the agency name and docket number or Regulatory Information Number (RIN) for this rule. For detailed instructions on submitting comments and additional information, see www.regulations.gov. If interested persons are submitting comments electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal and want to attach a document, RMA requests use of a text-based format. If interested persons wish to attach a document that is a scanned Adobe PDF file, it must be scanned as text and not as an image, thus allowing RMA to search and copy certain portions of the submissions. For questions regarding attaching a document that is a scanned Adobe PDF file, please contact the RMA Web Content Team at (816) 823-4694 or by email at rmaweb.content@rma.usda.gov.

DISPOSAL DATE:
February 28, 2019