USDA Expands Crop Insurance Flexibility for Organic Growers

The USDA is improving crop insurance options for organic cranberry and stone fruit producers, giving them more flexibility beginning with the 2027 crop year.  RMA has approved allowing producers to select Enterprise Units or Optional Units by organic farming practice for those crops.  

“This approval is part of RMA’s overarching goal to improve crop insurance programs for specialty crops across the nation," said RMA Administrator Pat Swanson.  "We are committed to ensuring these risk management programs work for every producer.  This approval gives organic and transitional growers the same unit structure flexibility already available to conventional producers, allowing them to separate or combine acreage by practice in a way that better reflects how they farm.”

Enterprise Units combine eligible acreage into a single insurance unit, while Optional Units allow producers to divide acreage into smaller units based on practices or land location.  That means losses on one unit can be settled without being offset by production from another.

The option applies wherever coverage is available. Eligible stone fruit includes apricots, peaches, nectarines, and plums. Producers should contact their crop insurance agent before their sales closing date to discuss coverage and unit options.

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