Crop Insurance Considerations After Excessive Rainfall

By Kent Thiesse

Large portions of Southern Minnesota, along with adjoining areas of Northern Iowa, and Eastern South Dakota, have been impacted by severe storms and excessive rainfall amounts in recent weeks. This has caused considerable drown-out areas in fields, as well as crop damage to the remaining crop in many fields. As of June 21, many rivers across Southern Minnesota were above flood stage, closing roads and flooding farm fields. Some farm operators with flood plain farmland that avoided the initial crop loss following the heavy rainfall events, are now experiencing major flooding and crop loss due to the rising rivers and streams.

In addition to the crop loss from the excess precipitation, another major concern that is developing as a result of the frequent heavy June rainfall events is the loss or lack of available nitrogen for the growing corn. Along with the persistent wet field conditions, concerns arise regarding timely herbicide applications for weed control. Producers who relied on post-emergence herbicides for weed control have had difficulty getting these products applied in a timely fashion, which is resulting in strong weed pressure in some fields.

Another factor affecting replant and crop management decisions following the excessive rainfall events in June is the type of Federal Crop Insurance policy and level of insurance coverage that a farm operator is carrying for 2024. Producers with a “replant clause” on their crop insurance coverage could be eligible for some compensation for replanting following crop losses from heavy rains, hail, or other natural causes. To qualify for replant compensation, farmers must have a loss area of at least 20 acres, or 20 percent of the total acres in an insured farm unit, whichever is less. With “enterprise units”, smaller areas of fields may be grouped together to reach that threshold level. The crop insurance replant provision can only be exercised once in a given year on the same crop acres. Some farm operators may have already used the replant option following poor emergence in late May or early June, and thus could not use the replant provision again following the recent excessive rainfall.

Crop producers will need to decide if replanting corn or soybeans this late is a viable option. Corn could likely only be used as livestock feed, and soybeans planted around July 1 in Southern Minnesota may only have a yield potential of about 30-35 bushels per acre. The 2024 crop insurance Spring prices were $4.66 per bushel for corn and $11.55 per bushel for soybeans. Current prices for December corn futures are near $4.50 per bushel, and near $11.00 per bushel for November soybean futures. At those price levels with an 85 percent crop insurance policy, a producer with a 200 bushel per acre APH corn yield would start collecting crop insurance indemnity payments at a final 2024 corn yield of approximately 176 bushels per acre and with a 60 bushel per acre APH soybean yield, indemnity payments would be initiated at a final 2024 soybean yield of approximately 53 bushels per acre.