News

WASHINGTON, September 14, 2020 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA) today announced it is increasing premium subsidies and will make other improvements to the Livestock Risk Protection (LRP) plan of insurance for feeder cattle, fed cattle, and swine starting with the 2021 crop year. The increased premium subsidy is retroactive to the beginning of the 2021 crop year and is based on the coverage selected by the livestock producer. RMA will implement the other improvements later this year.

“We encourage livestock producers to contact their insurance agent to take advantage of these improvements,” said RMA Administrator Martin Barbre. “These changes will not only make LRP more affordable for producers, but also will provide them…

WASHINGTON, August 19, 2020 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA) today announced it will make several improvements to Federal crop insurance prevented planting coverage. RMA will implement these changes for most spring crops with prevented planting coverage, starting in the 2021 crop year, and for all crops with prevented planting coverage, starting in the 2022 crop year.

“After unprecedented prevented planting in 2019, I thought it was incredibly important to examine how prevented planting policy can be improved,” said RMA Administrator Martin Barbre. “Over the past few months, RMA has engaged producer groups, insurance agents, and Approved Insurance Providers in discussion through a prevented planting…

WASHINGTON, August 17, 2020 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA) today announced that this year farmers who planted cover crops on prevented plant acres in select counties in North and South Dakota will be permitted to hay, graze or chop those fields beginning Sept. 1 rather than Nov. 1. The change is being made because of excessive moisture and flooding in 42 counties in the two states.

“Farmers in the Dakotas have seen excessive moisture over the winter and into this spring, and we made this one-year adjustment to help farmers remain good stewards of the land and provide an opportunity to ensure quality forage is available for livestock this fall,” said Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation…

WASHINGTON, August 7, 2020 –The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced a new annual survey of farmers, ranchers and private forestland owners. The survey will help USDA understand what it is doing well and where improvements are needed, specifically at the Farm Service Agency (FSA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Risk Management Agency (RMA).

A selection of 28,000 producers will receive the survey over the next few weeks, but all farmers are encouraged to take the survey at farmers.gov/survey.

“We want to hear from our customers so we can learn what we’re doing right and where we’re missing the mark,” Under Secretary for Farm Production and…

WASHINGTON, August 5, 2020 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA) today announced it will authorize Approved Insurance Providers (AIPs) to extend deadlines for premium and administrative fee payments, defer the resulting interest accrual and allow other flexibilities to help farmers, ranchers, and insurance providers due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“USDA recognizes farmers and ranchers have been severely affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic this year and to help ease the burden on these folks, we are continuing to extend flexibility for producers,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue. “The flexibilities announced today support health and safety while also ensuring the Federal crop insurance…

WASHINGTON, July 20, 2020 – USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) today announced changes to the Livestock Gross Margin (LGM) insurance program for cattle and swine beginning in the 2021 crop year. Changes include adding premium subsidies to assist producers and moving premium due dates to the end of the endorsement period for cattle.

“These changes build upon RMA’s continued effort to make livestock policies more affordable and accessible for livestock producers,” RMA Administrator Martin Barbre said. “We are working to ensure that these improvements can be implemented by the July 31 sales period so producers can take advantage of these changes as soon as possible.”

Prior to this change, LGM-Cattle and Swine did not have premium subsidies. Now,…

WASHINGTON, July 6, 2020 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced changes to several crop insurance policies improving options for producers, including introducing a new Quality Loss Option, a new unit structure assignment option for Enterprise Units (EU) and new procedures for Multi-County Enterprise Units (MCEU).

“In addition to making the changes required by the Farm Bill, we are making updates to provide producers more flexibility and options. We continually listen to producers and other stakeholders, and we adjust these policies when necessary,” said Martin Barbre, Administrator of USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA). “With these changes, producers will have more coverage choices.”…

WASHINGTON, June 9, 2020 – USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) today announced changes to the Livestock Risk Protection (LRP) insurance program for feeder cattle, fed cattle and swine starting this summer with the 2021 crop year. Changes include moving premium due dates to the end of the endorsement period and increasing premium subsidies to assist producers.

“These changes will make these policies more usable and affordable for livestock producers,” RMA Administrator Martin Barbre said. “We are working to ensure these improvements can be implemented by July 1 so producers can take advantage of these changes.”

Specifically, the changes:

• Allow premiums to be paid at the end of the…

WASHINGTON, June 1, 2020 – USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) is modifying the sales period over weekends for Dairy Revenue Protection (DRP) because of the high volatility of milk prices. Starting June 5, 2020, the sales period will begin no later than 4:30 p.m. Central Time (CT) when the coverage prices and rates are published and will end at 9:00 a.m. CT of the following business day or 9:00 a.m. CT on Sunday, whichever is earlier. The next sales period will begin no later than 4:30 p.m. CT on the following business day. This change only impacts when milk producers can purchase DRP quarterly endorsements, not the timing of indemnity payments. This modification will also be incorporated into the DRP policy for the 2022 crop year.…

WASHINGTON, May 29, 2020 – USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) is making further adjustments to assist producers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, Approved Insurance Providers (AIPs) are authorized to extend the deadlines for payment of premiums and administrative fees, defer the resulting accrual of interest and to extend the correction time period for acreage reports or other forms.

“RMA continues to add more flexibilities to assist America’s farmers and ranchers during this very difficult time,” RMA Administrator Martin Barbre said. “We will make adjustments as needed to ensure that the Federal crop insurance program continues to serve the risk management needs of our nation’s…