New Crop Insurance Option for Specialty Crop Growers and Diversified Farms

SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Jan. 12, 2015 – USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) announced the release of the Whole-Farm Revenue Protection crop insurance program for the 2015 crop year. The policy allows producers to insure between 50 to 85 percent of their whole farm revenue and makes crop insurance more affordable for producers, including fruit and vegetable growers and organic farmers and ranchers.

Whole-farm revenue protection combines and enhances two popular and well-known plans of insurance, Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) and Adjusted Gross Revenue-Lite (AGR-Lite). Policy enhancements include an expanded range of coverage levels, coverage for replanting, provisions that increase coverage for expanding operations, a higher maximum amount of coverage and the inclusion of market readiness costs in the coverage.

The Whole-Farm Revenue Protection program is designed to fit any farm with up to $8.5 million in insured revenue, including farms with specialty or organic commodities (both crops and livestock). The policy allows these growers to insure a variety of crops at once instead of one commodity at a time. That gives them the option of embracing more crop diversity and helps support the production of a wider variety of foods.

Whole-farm revenue protection is available in 45 states, including Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. The whole-farm premium subsidy is available to farms with two or more commodities that meet minimum diversification requirements. Producers can purchase whole-farm revenue protection in conjunction with individual crop policies as long as those policies are at a buy-up coverage level.

More information, including availability of the product, can be found on the RMA website in Crop Policies.

Sales closing date for the Whole-Farm Revenue Protection program is March 15, 2015 for the 2015 crop year. Interested producers and current policyholders are encouraged to visit with a crop insurance agent to learn how whole-farm revenue protection may fit within their farm’s risk management needs. Growers must make all of their decisions on crop insurance coverage on or before the sales closing date.

Federal crop insurance policies are sold and delivered solely through private crop insurance companies and agents. A list of crop insurance agents is available at all USDA service centers or on the RMA website at Agent Locator.