Transcript Prevented Planting PowerPoint

Billings Regional Office
PREVENTED PLANTING
COVERAGE – THE FACTS
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Policy and procedure address acreage eligible for
prevented planting coverage and indemnity.
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Must meet policy definition of insurable acreage;
Must be physically available for planting at the
beginning of the insurance period;
Must have an insured cause of loss occur within the
insurance period – preexisting conditions that occurred
outside the insurance period are not covered.
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PREVENTED PLANTING:
INSURABLE ACREAGE
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Acreage is not insurable if it has not been planted and
harvested or insured (including insured acreage that
was prevented from being planted) in any one of the
three previous crop years.
PREVENTED PLANTING:
CAUSE OF LOSS
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Insured cause of loss must occur within the insurance
period and be general to the surrounding area.
Preexisting conditions that occurred outside the
insurance period are not covered.
No prevented planting payment could be made on
such acreage.
AIPs must make loss determinations on a case by
case basis.
PREVENTED PLANTING:
ACREAGE PHYSICALLY
AVAILABLE TO PLANT
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Section 17(f)(8) of the Basic Crop Insurance Provisions
states: Regardless of the number of eligible acres
determined in section 17(e), prevented planting
coverage will not be provided for any acreage:*****(8)
That exceeds the number of eligible acres physically
available for planting.
RMA determines the language to mean the number of
acres eligible for prevented planting is limited to the
number of acres that are physically available for
planting at the beginning of the insurance period.
FINAL AGENCY
DETERMINATION (FAD)
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Legal determination by USDA Office of General Counsel
clarified that just because a producer could till the land the
previous year does not mean it is available for planting.
 Acreage
may have been tilled the previous summer or fall but
is normally wet throughout the spring final and late planting
period.
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Prevented planting coverage is not provided for such
acreage because the reason the acreage could not be
planted was due to normal amounts of precipitation, which
is not an insured cause of loss.
PREVENTED PLANTING:
ACREAGE PHYSICALLY
AVAILABLE TO PLANT
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Available for planting means land is free of trees, rocky
outcroppings, or other factors that would prevent proper and
timely preparation of the seedbed for planting and harvest of
the crop for the crop year.
Normally wet conditions from year to year on such acreage
makes it likely to have well established cattails, perennial
weeds, and perennial grasses that increase the likelihood of
the acreage being unavailable for planting in the spring.
Tillage or removal of “established” marsh vegetation on
acreage during late summer and fall does not qualify it as
“available to plant” for upcoming crop year – still defined as
acreage that has or recently had marsh vegetation on it –
prior to prevented planting insurance period .
PREVENTED PLANTING
INSURANCE PERIOD
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A new insured producer:
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The sales closing date for the insured crop in the county for the
crop year the application for insurance is accepted by the
Insurance Provider through to the end of the late planting period
for the insured crop.
A carryover insured producer:
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For any subsequent crop year, on or after the sales closing date
for the previous crop year for the insured crop in the county,
provided insurance has been in force continuously since that date
through the late planting period for the insured crop.
INSURED AND INSURANCE
PROVIDER RESPONSIBILITIES
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It is the policyholder’s responsibility to prove the prevented
planting loss was due to an insured cause of loss.
Procedures require the Approved Insurance Provider (AIP)
to verify that an insured cause of loss prevented planting.
It is also the policyholder’s responsibility to prove acreage
is available for planting.
The AIP verifies that the acreage is normally available to
plant and therefore eligible for prevented planting
coverage using every resource available to them.
PREVENTED PLANTING IN PRAIRIE
POTHOLE REGION OF US
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RMA has been working to address situations where
producers have received prevented planting payments
for several years in a row on the same acreage.
Almost all cases were in the Prairie Pothole Region of
the US (MT, ND, SD, MN, and IA).
RMA filed a new Special Provisions of Insurance
(SPOI) Statement for the 2012 crop year.
RMA’S SPECIAL PROVISION
LANGUAGE
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The Special Provisions statement addresses acreage not
considered physically available for planting.
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“In accordance with section 17(f)(8) of the Basic Provisions,
“physically available for planting” means land is free of trees,
rocky outcroppings, or other factors that would prevent proper
and timely preparation of the seedbed for planting and harvest of
the crop for the crop year. Additionally, acreage not considered
physically available for planting includes, but is not limited to, the
following:……………….
Further defined acreage not available for planting as acreage that
has not been planted and harvested in at least one of the last 4
years.
RMA’S SPECIAL PROVISION
LANGUAGE: ITEM 4
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4. Acreage that has or recently had marsh
vegetation (e.g., cattails, bulrushes, and
pondweeds), coarse emergent plants, or
submerged aquatics;
RMA’S SPECIAL PROVISION
LANGUAGE: ITEM 4
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Some interpreted this statement independent of all
other policy and Special Provisions and declared any
acreage that currently had any sign of aquatic plants on
it as ineligible for prevented planting coverage.
It is extremely important that all policy language and
provisions are considered collectively when determining
prevented planting eligibility.
A key fact is “would the acreage have been physically
available for planting had it not been for the insurable
cause of loss that occurred within the insurance
period.”
PREVENTED PLANTING
“AVAILABLE TO PLANT”
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The following slides provide an example of what
type of proof a producer may need to provide
that acreage was available to plant prior to the
prevented planting insurance period.
2010 Crop Year
Planted and harvested soybeans
Established
rushes & cattails
Planted
and
harvested
soybeans
2011 Crop Year
58
Acres
Flooded acreage
Established rushes
& cattails - 2012
Flooded acreage
Established rushes
& cattails - 2012
2012 Crop Year
2012 Crop Year
Planted corn
Moss & small
cattails
Planted corn
30
Acres
Established
rushes & cattails
Moss & small
cattails
Moss & small
cattails
Established
rushes & cattails
Planted corn
RMA’S SPECIAL PROVISION
LANGUAGE: ITEM 5.
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5. Any acreage not planted to a crop that is insured
under the authority of the Federal Crop Insurance Act,
that is grown in the county on insurable acreage, and
harvested in at least one of the four most recent crop
years, using recognized good farming practices,
unless such acreage was planted to an insured crop
that was damaged by an insured cause of loss and
adjusted for purposes of a claim under the Federal
crop insurance program; or
PREVENTED PLANTING
“AVAILABLE TO PLANT”
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The following slides provide an example of the
type of incidents that would render acreage not
physically available to plant under item number
5.
2012 Crop Year -July
Planted corn
Planted corn
Worked PP acreage
& planted cover crop
30
Acres
Worked PP acreage
& planted cover crop
Established
rushes & cattails
Planted corn
2013 Crop Year
Planted
soybeans
56
Acres
Planted
soybeans
Established
rushes & cattails
Planted
soybeans
2014 Crop Year
Planted corn
Established
rushes & cattails
Marshy and
wet
Planted corn
30
Acres
Moss & small
cattails
Marshy and
wet
Established
rushes & cattails
Planted corn
2015 Crop Year
Planted
soybeans
Moss & small
cattails
Planted
soybeans
42
Acres
Established
rushes & cattails
Moss & small
cattails
Moss & small
cattails
Established
rushes & cattails
Planted
soybeans
RMA’S SPECIAL PROVISION
LANGUAGE: ITEM 6
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6. Acreage that has any other condition, as
determined by us, that would prevent the proper
and timely planting of the crop when weather and
other conditions are normal for the area in which
the acreage is located. For example, acreage that
is normally too wet to plant in the spring may be
dry enough to till or plant and even insure a crop in
the fall. Such acreage would not be available for
planting a spring crop even though such acreage
may have been tilled, planted and/or insured the
previous fall.”
PREVENTED PLANTING DUE
TO DROUGHT
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To qualify - the insured must provide verifiable
documentation:
 The
area that is prevented from being planted has
insufficient soil moisture for germination of seed, or
 Progress toward crop maturity due to a prolonged
period of dry weather.
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The AIP would verify the documentation and
conditions.
PREVENTED PLANTING DUE
TO DROUGHT
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Documentation and information must be collected by
sources whose business it is to record and study the
weather, including but not limited to local weather reporting
stations of the National Weather Service (NWS).
The U.S. Drought Monitor may be used to show severe
drought - but cannot be used alone, AIP must verify that the
insured acreage experienced the same conditions.
Some (but not all) sources that cannot be used:
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Farm records
Written opinions from Cooperative Extension Service
Soil moisture indices
Newspaper reports
PREVENTED PLANTING DUE
TO DROUGHT
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Documentation and Written Information:
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Published material or written opinions from agricultural
experts for the insured crop that was prevented from
planting, stating the amount of soil moisture needed to
germinate seed or for progress toward maturity is not
available.
Agricultural experts must be disinterested third parties to
the insured.
Their written opinion must be based on the crop, area in
which the crop is grown, soil type in which the crop is grown,
and other relevant factors.
QUESTIONS