February 26, 2003

The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) is encouraging its members to meet the approaching March deadline to apply for crop insurance. "For the vast majority of the country, producers must have insurance policy applications for corn as well as soybeans completed and signed by the sales closing date of March 15," said NCGA Director of Public Policy Sam Willett. "Earlier deadlines are established for the Southeast region extending from the eastern half of Texas to Florida."

USDA's Risk Management Agency (RMA) notes that "insurance coverage is continuous and can be cancelled by either the insurance provider or the policyholder for the following crop year by providing a written notice to the other party no later than a specified date." Growers who wish to make changes to their policy coverage must also submit their requests by March 15.

According to Willett, many producers are rethinking their risk management options due to two years of severe drought conditions and other natural disasters, coupled with the long delayed action by Congress on farm disaster aid legislation. "Key reforms to the federal crop insurance programs in 2000, including higher levels of subsidies and new product incentives, have contributed to many more producers purchasing buy-up coverage and a major increase in the percentage of farm acreage enrolled in the program," continued Willett. "As a result, the RMA is projecting a record level of indemnity payments exceeding $4 billion to be issued to producers for the 2002 crop year." So far, producers have received over $3.7 billion for their losses.

Recently, the RMA released approved 2003 price elections for the more widely used crop insurance products for multi-peril crop insurance, crop revenue coverage revenue assurance polices which are significantly higher than levels approved for the 2002 crop year. Also, RMA announced last week up to $18 million in financial assistance to 15 underserved states mostly in the Northeast region to encourage greater participation.

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) Board of Directors completed its review and formal approval of the premium discount plan (PDP) offered by Crop1 Insurance and Converium Insurance North America, Inc (CINA). By demonstrating savings in the delivery of their program primarily over its internet site, Crop1 is now exclusively selling PDP, saving producers up to 10% off premiums of standard crop insurance programs (MPCI, CRC, RA, or GRIP) in seven states: Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota and North Dakota.

A PDP may be purchased through the CropAgent Affiliate Network, which includes farm supply cooperatives, agricultural retailers, grain marketers, farm management companies and financial institutions at www.crop1ins.com. For more information on the PDP and other insurance products approved by the FCIC, growers can visit www.rma.usda.gov