Background

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) has revised the Catastrophic Risk Protection Endorsement, the Area Risk Protection Insurance Regulations, and the Common Crop Insurance Regulations, Basic Provisions to incorporate changes made in the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (“2018 Farm Bill”). A Final Rule published in the Federal Register on June 28, 2019.

This rule revises the provisions regarding the:

Background

The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 Farm Bill) mandated changes to the treatment of cover crops for insurance purposes. The Risk Management Agency (RMA) has worked with the Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to develop new Guidelines (previously referred to as NRCS Termination Guidelines) and policy provisions to comply with the 2018 Farm Bill changes.

Action

For crops planted following a cover crop in the 2020 crop year and later:

Background

The Agriculture Risk Protection (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA) were initially implemented, per the Agricultural Act of 2014, with a one-time election between the two programs lasting five years. In accordance with the Federal Crop Insurance Act (Act), crop acreage with ARC elected cannot be covered under SCO. The current SCO Endorsement was designed to accommodate one-time elections of ARC or PLC lasting several years.

Background

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation Board of Directors, under section 508(h) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act, approved modifications to the Texas Citrus Tree Insurance Program on August 15, 2018, including:

The 2020 Appendix III to the Standard Reinsurance Agreement and the Livestock Price Reinsurance Agreement (Appendix III) has been updated with approved modifications. Appendix III is available electronically via the Risk Management Agency (RMA) website at www.rma.usda.gov/Policy-and-Procedure/ under the Appendix III/M- 13 directory.

Modifications in the 2020 Appendix III include:

As of June 25, 2019 the following information is now available on the FTP site:

• 2020 Actuarial Data Master for the 6/30 Filing Date, YTD, and Daily Files.
• 2020 Special Provisions for the 6/30 Filing Date.

Users can find this information in the following directories:

• 2020 Actuarial Data Master are in the References/Actuarial_Data_Master/2020 directory.
• 2020 Special Provisions are in the Special_Provisions/2020 directory.

Additional notes and details regarding this data release:

Background

The Risk Management Agency (RMA) has revised the Margin Protection (MP) Plan of Insurance for the 2020 crop year, as follows:

Background

Historical flooding and excessive rainfall throughout much of the country will likely lead to an unprecedented amount of prevented planting claims under Federal crop insurance. Given these extraordinary events and the need for animal feed in many parts of the country, flexibility around the use of a cover crop planted on prevented planted acreage for haying, grazing, and cutting for silage, haylage, and baleage has become necessary.

Background

The Risk Management Agency (RMA) issued Manager’s Bulletin MGR-019-014 on June 11, 2019, regarding the 2020 Fall County Crops Program Expansion. The attachment, 2020 Expansion of Existing Fall Crops Programs listed “Alfalfa” under the “Crop” section which is a typographical error. The correct crop program expansion is “Alfalfa Seed.”

The Federal Crop Insurance Act (Act) allows developers of approved privately-developed crop insurance products (“508(h) products”) to maintain their 508(h) products and charge a user fee to approved insurance providers (AIP) that elect to sell the policy. Section 522(b)(4)(D)(ii) of the Act and 7 C.F.R. 400.712(l)(5) provide that the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) Board of Directors (Board) will determine the reasonableness and approve the amount of user fee that is payable to the developer by the AIP.