Billings Regional Office

PREVENTED PLANTING COVERAGE – THE FACTS  Policy and procedure address acreage eligible for prevented planting coverage and indemnity.  Must meet policy definition of insurable acreage;  Must be physically available for planting at the beginning of the insurance period;  Must have an insured cause of loss occur within the insurance period – preexisting conditions that occurred outside the insurance period are not covered. 2

 Acreage is not insurable if it has not been planted and harvested or insured (including insured acreage that was prevented from being planted) in any one of the three previous crop years.

 Insured cause of loss must occur within the insurance period and be general to the surrounding area.  Preexisting conditions that occurred outside the insurance period are not covered.  No prevented planting payment could be made on such acreage.  AIPs must make loss determinations on a case by case basis.

 Section 17(f)(8) of the Basic Crop Insurance Provisions states: Regardless of the number of eligible acres determined in section 17(e), prevented planting coverage will not be provided for any acreage:*****(8) That exceeds the number of eligible acres physically available for planting.  RMA determines the language to mean the number of acres eligible for prevented planting is limited to the number of acres that are physically available for planting at the beginning of the insurance period.

 Legal determination by USDA Office of General Counsel clarified that just because a producer could till the land the previous year does not mean it is available for planting.  Acreage may have been tilled the previous summer or fall but is normally wet throughout the spring final and late planting period.  Prevented planting coverage is not provided for such acreage because the reason the acreage could not be planted was due to normal amounts of precipitation, which is not an insured cause of loss.

 Available for planting means land is free of trees, rocky outcroppings, or other factors that would prevent proper and timely preparation of the seedbed for planting and harvest of the crop for the crop year.  Normally wet conditions from year to year on such acreage makes it likely to have well established cattails, perennial weeds, and perennial grasses that increase the likelihood of the acreage being unavailable for planting in the spring.  Tillage or removal of “established” marsh vegetation on acreage during late summer and fall does not qualify it as “available to plant” for upcoming crop year – still defined as acreage that has or recently had marsh vegetation on it – prior to prevented planting insurance period.

 A new insured producer:  The sales closing date for the insured crop in the county for the crop year the application for insurance is accepted by the Insurance Provider through to the end of the late planting period for the insured crop.  A carryover insured producer:  For any subsequent crop year, on or after the sales closing date for the previous crop year for the insured crop in the county, provided insurance has been in force continuously since that date through the late planting period for the insured crop.

 It is the policyholder’s responsibility to prove the prevented planting loss was due to an insured cause of loss.  Procedures require the Approved Insurance Provider (AIP) to verify that an insured cause of loss prevented planting.  It is also the policyholder’s responsibility to prove acreage is available for planting.  The AIP verifies that the acreage is normally available to plant and therefore eligible for prevented planting coverage using every resource available to them.

 RMA has been working to address situations where producers have received prevented planting payments for several years in a row on the same acreage.  Almost all cases were in the Prairie Pothole Region of the US (MT, ND, SD, MN, and IA).  RMA filed a new Special Provisions of Insurance (SPOI) Statement for the 2012 crop year.

 The Special Provisions statement addresses acreage not considered physically available for planting.  “In accordance with section 17(f)(8) of the Basic Provisions, “physically available for planting” means land is free of trees, rocky outcroppings, or other factors that would prevent proper and timely preparation of the seedbed for planting and harvest of the crop for the crop year. Additionally, acreage not considered physically available for planting includes, but is not limited to, the following:……………….  Further defined acreage not available for planting as acreage that has not been planted and harvested in at least one of the last 4 years.

 4. Acreage that has or recently had marsh vegetation (e.g., cattails, bulrushes, and pondweeds), coarse emergent plants, or submerged aquatics;

 Some interpreted this statement independent of all other policy and Special Provisions and declared any acreage that currently had any sign of aquatic plants on it as ineligible for prevented planting coverage.  It is extremely important that all policy language and provisions are considered collectively when determining prevented planting eligibility.  A key fact is “would the acreage have been physically available for planting had it not been for the insurable cause of loss that occurred within the insurance period.”

 The following slides provide an example of what type of proof a producer may need to provide that acreage was available to plant prior to the prevented planting insurance period.

2010 Crop Year Planted and harvested soybeans Established rushes & cattails Planted and harvested soybeans

2011 Crop Year Flooded acreage Established rushes & cattails Flooded acreage Established rushes & cattails Acres

2012 Crop Year

Moss & small cattails Established rushes & cattails 2012 Crop Year Moss & small cattails Established rushes & cattails Planted corn 30 Acres

 5. Any acreage not planted to a crop that is insured under the authority of the Federal Crop Insurance Act, that is grown in the county on insurable acreage, and harvested in at least one of the four most recent crop years, using recognized good farming practices, unless such acreage was planted to an insured crop that was damaged by an insured cause of loss and adjusted for purposes of a claim under the Federal crop insurance program; or

 The following slides provide an example of the type of incidents that would render acreage not physically available to plant under item number 5.

2012 Crop Year -July Worked PP acreage & planted cover crop Established rushes & cattails Planted corn Worked PP acreage & planted cover crop 30 Acres

2013 Crop Year Established rushes & cattails Planted soybeans 56 Acres

Marshy and wet Established rushes & cattails 2014 Crop Year Moss & small cattails Marshy and wet Established rushes & cattails Planted corn 30 Acres

Moss & small cattails Established rushes & cattails 2015 Crop Year Moss & small cattails Established rushes & cattails Planted soybeans 42 Acres

 6. Acreage that has any other condition, as determined by us, that would prevent the proper and timely planting of the crop when weather and other conditions are normal for the area in which the acreage is located. For example, acreage that is normally too wet to plant in the spring may be dry enough to till or plant and even insure a crop in the fall. Such acreage would not be available for planting a spring crop even though such acreage may have been tilled, planted and/or insured the previous fall.”

 To qualify - the insured must provide verifiable documentation:  The area that is prevented from being planted has insufficient soil moisture for germination of seed, or  Progress toward crop maturity due to a prolonged period of dry weather.  The AIP would verify the documentation and conditions.

 Documentation and information must be collected by sources whose business it is to record and study the weather, including but not limited to local weather reporting stations of the National Weather Service (NWS).  The U.S. Drought Monitor may be used to show severe drought - but cannot be used alone, AIP must verify that the insured acreage experienced the same conditions.  Some (but not all) sources that cannot be used:  Farm records  Written opinions from Cooperative Extension Service  Soil moisture indices  Newspaper reports

 Documentation and Written Information:  Published material or written opinions from agricultural experts for the insured crop that was prevented from planting, stating the amount of soil moisture needed to germinate seed or for progress toward maturity is not available.  Agricultural experts must be disinterested third parties to the insured.  Their written opinion must be based on the crop, area in which the crop is grown, soil type in which the crop is grown, and other relevant factors.