USDA Ends Prevented Planting +10% Option

The USDA has ended a 10% higher crop insurance coverage option for prevented planting claims.  In a memo sent out to insurers and USDA’s Risk Management Agency field offices, USDA eliminated the Prevented Planting +10% Option for the 2018 crop year and future crop years. USDA kept the 5% option for farmers, though analysis shows very few farmers have taken the 5% option.

Some suspect that Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue wants to expand insurance policies for livestock and dairy producers, so the move may be a way to fund that initiative.  The move comes after USDA changed prevented planting coverage factors for some crops last spring, which included lowering the coverage factor for corn from 60% to 55%.

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