Background

In accordance with Section 8 of the Rainfall and Vegetation Index Plan Common Policy Basic Provisions, final grid indices and payment calculation factors have been determined and approved for the following:

• 2018 Crop Year Rainfall Index March – April Index Interval Final Grid Indices for Annual Forage, Apiculture, and Pasture, Rangeland, Forage

Action

By close of business today, final grid indices and payment calculation factors will be available in the Actuarial Information Browser and Actuarial Data Master in the following formats:

Background

This Informational Memorandum establishes the 2018 crop year Prune Reference Date. In addition, it provides Approved Insurance Providers with the average dry prune count per pound for calculating second-period immature prune appraisals.

Each year the Davis Regional Office (DRO) establishes the Prune Reference Date. This date occurs one to two weeks after prune pit tip hardening when 80 to 90 percent of the seed shows the presence of endosperm, a clear jelly-like substance at the bloom end of the seed.

Background

In areas of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, an increase in planted cotton acreage and subsequent high cotton yields have caused abnormal delays in the completion of the ginning process of harvested cotton production for the 2017 crop year. As a result, many cotton insureds in these three states will not have gin records of their 2017 cotton crop available by the production reporting date (PRD).

As of May 10, 2018 the following information is now available on the FTP site:

• 2018 Actuarial Data Master for the 4/30, 8/31 Filing Date, YTD, and Daily Files.

Users can find this information in the following directories:

• 2018 Actuarial Data Master are in the References/Actuarial_Data_Master/2018 directory.

Additional notes and details regarding this data release:

Background

In accordance with Section 8 of the Rainfall and Vegetation Index Plan Common Policy Basic Provisions, final grid indices and payment calculation factors have been determined and approved for the following:

Background

The Commodity Exchange Price Provisions (CEPP) are used in conjunction with either the Common Crop Insurance Policy Basic Provisions or the Area Risk Protection Insurance Basic Provisions, along with Crop Provisions for the following crops: barley, canola/rapeseed, corn, cotton, grain sorghum, rice, soybeans, sunflowers and wheat.

The CEPP specifies how and when the projected and harvest price components will be determined. The CEPP contains two sections:

• 2016 Actuarial Data Master for the 8/31 Filing Date, YTD, and Daily Files.
• 2017 Actuarial Data Master for the 6/30, 8/31, 10/31 Filing Date, YTD, and Daily Files.

Users can find this information in the following directories:

In accordance with Section 3 of the ARPI Crop Provisions and Section 10 of the SCO Endorsement, approved final county yields for the 2017 crop year will be available by close of business today in the following formats:

Background

The United States Department of Agriculture, Risk Management Agency (RMA) is required annually, in accordance with Appendix C of the Office of Management and Budget Circular No. A-123, Requirements for Effective Estimation and Remediation of Improper Payments dated October 20, 2014, to estimate and report an improper payment rate using a randomly selected, statistically valid sample of policies for the Federal crop insurance program.

The agency is now initiating its review of policies for the 2019 reporting period.