In the current climate of high crop and input prices, many farmers bought crop insurance that had not done so before and they may be unfamiliar with the rules and provisions. Furthermore, the cool wet weather this spring delayed planting for many Wisconsin farmers and recent heavy rains only made conditions worse. As a result, farmers with crop insurance may trigger late or prevented planting coverage or may want to use replant provisions. This article briefly describes replant provisions and late and prevented planting coverage for APH and CRC and the forage seeding and forage production policies. The take home message is, if you have a question, contact your crop insurance agent and find out the rules and your options. 

 

The final planting dates in Wisconsin are May 31 for corn for grain, June 5 for corn for silage, June 10 for soybeans in the northern 2/3 of the state and June 15 for the southern 1/3 of the state. If you plant insured corn or soybean acreage after these dates, you must notify your crop insurance agent, even if you have elected not to have late and prevented planting coverage. Note, small areas do not trigger late and prevented planting provisions—the area must exceed 20 acres or 20% of the unit’s acreage to qualify (the 20-20 rule). The final planting date is May 15 for the forage seeding policy and this policy does not have late and prevented planting coverage or replant provisions as described below, but it own specific provisions. 

 

Once late or prevented planting is triggered by missing the final planting dates above, farmers have different options, which should be discussed with their crop insurance agent. The crop can be planted late and the unit’s yield guarantee reduced, a different crop can be planted (possibly with reduced insurance coverage), or the land can be left fallow and an indemnity received for prevented planting. Farmers prevented from planting in a timely manner should consult with their crop insurance agent to understand their options, as well as the rules and implications of each option, otherwise they may miss indemnities they are due or inadvertently forfeit insurance coverage. Crop policies with late planting provisions allow planting the crop after the final planting date, but the unit’s yield guarantee is reduced. The contribution of late planted acres to calculating a unit’s APH yield guarantee is reduced by 1% for each day after the final planting date the acres are planted, up to 25 days. If planting occurs 25 days after the late planting date, the contribution of these late planted acres is fixed at 60% of their timely planted yield 

 

A farmer prevented from planting acres to the insured crop can choose to plant a different crop (possibly with insurance coverage), or not plant any crop. For example, a farmer prevented from planting corn may elect to plant soybeans, and, if APH soybean coverage had been purchased, could receive insurance coverage for these soybean acres (with reduced coverage for late planting if applicable). Alternatively, a farmer can leave the land fallow and receive a prevented planting indemnity equal to 60% of the yield guarantee (more if higher prevented planting coverage is elected). Farmers leaving land fallow should communicate with their crop insurance agent concerning allowable activities on this land. Grazing or haying a volunteer or cover crop prior to November 1 constitutes a second crop and reduces prevented planting indemnities. Always check with your crop insurance agent before doing something with insured acres. 

 

If a crop stand is damaged early in the season so that the projected yield is less than 90% of the APH yield guarantee, a farmer can receive an indemnity for part of the actual cost of replanting. The affected area must exceed 20 acres or 20% of the unit’s acreage (the 20-20 rule). The maximum indemnity is the chosen price election multiplied by 20% of the yield guarantee, up to 8 bu for corn, 3 bu for soybeans and 1 ton for corn silage. The replanted crop has the same production guarantee as for the original plant date (i.e., no reduction for late planting is imposed). Note that the replant option is not available for all policies or crops, so contact your crop insurance agent for clarification. 

 

For those with a forage seeding policy, an indemnity is paid if the established stand is less than 75% of a normal stand due to causes such as wet weather and flooding. Indemnities are reduced by half if the established stand is above 55%. If a loss occurs, farmers can elect to replant, receiving 50% of the normal indemnity, but must first receive permission to replant. If you have stand losses on your seeded acres due to the recent weather events, contact your crop insurance agent to be sure you know the rules so you will receive indemnities you are owed and know your replant options, so you do not inadvertently forfeit your coverage. 

 

For those with a forage production policy, the key is to keep proper records of your harvest—if you are unsure how, contact your crop insurance agent. If you lose a cutting because of weather, contact your crop insurance agent to determine how to properly document your loss; usually a field visit will be required to adjust the loss. If flooding is sufficiently severe, you may want to officially abandon the insured acreage, but again, you must receive permission to do so in order to document your losses and not to forfeit your coverage. Forage policies also have specific rules regarding use of the acres for grazing. In general, you must receive permission before grazing the crop; if you fail to do, you may forfeit your coverage. 

 

The take home point regarding crop insurance is to always contact your crop insurance agent if you have questions, think you have a loss, or want to do something different with your insured acres. If you have been unable to plant your crop, planted it late, or want to replant it, contact your agent to properly document your losses and to understand your options. If you think you have a loss, contact your agent. If you want to put the land to a different use such as grazing, contact your agent. In the current climate of high crop prices and high input costs, crop insurance can be more valuable than it has been in past years. This is not a year to inadvertently lose your indemnities because you did not understand the rules or to fail to take advantage of your options because you did not know you had them. Take the time to learn the rules and your options by communicating with your agent. 

 

Late and Prevented Planting Provisions, William Edwards, Iowa State University Extension http://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/crops/html/a1-57.html.