By J. Craig Williams and Andrew Frankenfield
Drought stressed corn. Photo credit: Dwane Miller, Penn State Extension
Drought conditions continue to impact many fields across the state. Some widespread rains in late July and early August provided relief but may have been too late for some corn. This article will review some information with regard to crop insurance coverage, the rainfall index insurance options and some key information for good decision making at harvest.
It is important to understand the details of the contracts. With the dry conditions that are widespread through the Commonwealth, many farmers who insured their corn for grain are now considering chopping it for silage. Before harvest, it is important to contact your crop insurance agent and determine options. Harvesting corn as silage without approval from your agent likely will result in a loss of any insurance payments that would have been received. A crop insurance adjustor will need to visit your fields to assess the situation before you begin harvest. The adjustor will assess your yields and explain your options (certain insured crops can also be used for grazing). If it is too early for the adjuster to estimate the grain yield, you will likely need to leave representative strips of standing corn in the field. They will later be used to estimate your grain yield to determine if you should receive a crop insurance payment. Make sure you understand the necessary procedures so that you remain eligible for any crop insurance payments that you may be due. If you have not signed up for crop insurance for this year, the deadline for next year is March 15th.
Rainfall Insurance
Could we insure rain fall? While it is impossible to control rain fall, you can insure your farm against "Lack of rain." The Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage (PRF), insurance program lets you insure against departure from normal rainfall in an area around your farm.
If you raise hay and forage, there is crop insurance available for those crops as well. Consider looking into Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage (PRF), coverage is available for hay and forage in all counties in Pennsylvania under the Rainfall Index (RI) plan of insurance. Unlike traditional county-based Area Yield Protection insurance, RI is based on where your farm is located in grids that measure 0.25 degrees of longitude and latitude (approximately 13.2 x 17.2 miles in Pennsylvania). The RI policy protects you against yield losses related to lack of precipitation and uses a rainfall index as a measure of crop productivity. The rainfall index is based on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Prediction Center (NOAA CPC) data. In this case you can look at your specific grid and the past rainfall history of that grid. Visit this website to locate your grid and the PRF decision tool.
When choosing this type of insurance coverage, it is possible to insure all or part of your acreage for all or part of the year, but you must choose at least two, 2-month time periods during a calendar year. You may also select a productivity factor of between 60 and 150 percent of the county base value to match the amount of your protection to the value of the forages you grow. Loss payments are made under this insurance plan for every two-month period that was insured where the rainfall index for your grid is less than the coverage level you selected. If the rainfall is lower than expected in that two-month interval, then insurance coverage goes into effect. Under these policies, there is not a need to report any crops. The policy coverage is completely determined by what happens on the NOAA weather data for the grid months that you insure.
If you would like more information on the PRF Rain Fall index program or the online decision tool, reach out to your local crop insurance agent or contact: J Craig Williams at jcw17@psu.edu. Many insurance companies have a PRF factsheet on their website.
The deadline to sign up for PRF is November 15th. Contact a crop insurance agent for more information. You also can visit this Penn State crop insurance webpage for more details on crop insurance for Pennsylvania Field Crops.
Figure 1: Dry hayfield. Photo by J Craig Williams
Source : psu.edu