Cotton Crop Insurance: Navigating Planting Dates Deadline Variations Across Regions

Timely planting is crucial for crop insurance coverage, ensuring producers remain eligible for their selected yield or revenue guarantee. Producers should monitor three key crop insurance planting dates: Earliest Planting Date, Final Planting Date, and End of Late Planting Period Date. These dates determine coverage eligibility and can impact insurance claims. While crop insurance planting dates typically remain consistent from year to year, they may occasionally be reviewed and adjusted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture  Risk Management Agency when necessary. Any changes to these crop insurance planting dates involve a thorough process, including stakeholder input and consultation with Extension specialists and experts.

Earliest Planting Date is the earliest date producers may plant an insured agricultural commodity (e.g., rice, corn, soybeans, and peanuts) and qualify for a replanting payment if the crop is damaged by an insurable cause of loss and such payment is available for the crop. However, cotton does not have a designated Earliest Planting Date. Since cotton planting depends on soil moisture and temperature, which vary annually, a fixed Earliest Planting Date is impractical. Additionally, because the cotton crop insurance program does not include replant payment coverage, an Earliest Planting Date is unnecessary for determining replant eligibility.

Final Planting Date is the deadline by which acres must be planted to receive the full production guarantee selected by the producer. Acres planted after this date will have a reduced guarantee for crop insurance products with a Late Planting Period. Any unplanted acres as of this date must be reported to the insurance agent within three days. 

Late Planting Period for cotton crop insurance begins the day after the Final Planting Date and lasts for 5, 7, 10, or 15 days, depending on the location. Late Planting Period ends on the End of Late Planting Period Date. This period applies only to cotton crop insurance products that include a Late Planting Period. The specific length of the late planting period varies by location:

• 15 days: Counties in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Tennessee.
• 10 days: Counties in Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina.
• 7 days: Counties in New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.
• 5 days: Counties in North Carolina and Virginia.
• For Florida, only Nassau County has a 10-day late planting period, while all other counties have 15 days.
• For Mississippi, 10 counties in the southern part of the state have a 10-day late planting period, while the rest of the counties have 15 days.

For acreage planted during the Late Planting Period, the crop insurance guarantee decreases by 1% for each day after the Final Planting Date until the End of Late Planting Period Date, while the producer’s insurance premium remains unchanged. Acres planted after the End of Late Planting Period Date are generally uninsurable, except in cases where prevented planting coverage applies.

Our previous article in Southern Ag Today provided a detailed overview of all crop insurance products available to cotton producers. Cotton insured under Yield Protection (YP) or Revenue Protection (RP) plans, with related Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO), Enhanced Coverage Option (ECO), and Hurricane Insurance Protection – Wind Index (HIP-WI) options and endorsements, all follow the same Final Planting Dates, Late Planting Periods, and End of Late Planting Period Dates. The Final Planting Dates for these plans are illustrated.