Agricultural News
Crop Insurance for Pasture and Hay Land- Worth a Look for 2013!
Thu, 18 Oct 2012 03:48:51 CDT
While there curently is no disaster assistance program that is a part of the recently expired 2008 farm law, cattle producers do have risk management available to them in the form of a crop insurance product for their pasture and hay land. The Pasture, Rangeland, Forage Insurance Program (PRF) is a pilot federal crop insurance program that provides insurance protection for perennial forage produced for grazing or harvested for hay. The program is administered by the USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) and sold through private crop insurance companies. Federal crop insurance is only available through private companies, known as approved insurance providers (AIP). Private crop insurance companies directly insure producers and their crops, and then RMA reinsures the companies against a portion of the losses they may suffer. The amount of the crop insurance policy is partially subsidized- and that makes this option very affordable for ranchers.
Due to difficulties quantifying price and yield for forage crops, particularly for grazing, standard crop insurance products are generally not an option for insuring forage production. The PRF program is similar to group risk insurance and provides area-wide coverage. For Oklahoma and the majority of the United States, the program is based on a rainfall index. PRF insures producers based on the average rainfall in their geographic area instead of the producers' individual farm. Producers receive an indemnity payment when rainfall in their area falls below the normal historical level.
The Rainfall Index uses National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Prediction Center (NOAA CPC) data. The areas where the Rainfall Index is available have been divided into 12 by 12 mile grids. These grids do not follow county lines or township boundaries. This data does not directly reflect the rainfall amounts measured at a specific weather station within a particular grid. Instead, it reflects a smoothed result of nearby weather station estimates in order to obtain an estimate for the grid. Most group risk insurance provides coverage at the county level, but this product provides coverage at the grid level, which is likely to provide a more accurate estimate of rainfall for a particular acreage than a county level measure.
Dr. Jody Campiche of Oklahoma State University is a big fan of this program- the Ag Economist talked with us about this risk management tool on today's Beef Buzz. She says the time is now to learn about the Pasture, Rangeland and Forage Insurance program as the deadline to sign up for 2013 is November 15th of this year. She and JJ Jones have produced an excellent Extension Fact Sheet on the product- click here to jump over there and read more about how it might work for your operation.
Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today's Beef Buzz. The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network- but is also a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Be sure to check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
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