Posted November 24, 2014
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA) has announced that it is evaluating the possibility of more than 40 additional crops that may be covered under Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) insurance for the 2016 crop year, according to a RMA release available here. Insurance News also published the release here.
SCO is a provision of the 2014 Farm Bill, and it was developed to help protect producers from yield and market volatility. Currently, corn, cotton, cottonseed, grain sorghum, rice, soybeans, spring barley, spring wheat, and winter wheat in selected counties for the 2015 crop year are eligible for SCO. A list of the crops under review can be found on the RMA website here. RMA will provide SCO coverage for any crop under review that has adequate data to operate SCO.
“USDA is committed to making crop insurance available to as many farmers as possible. Expanding SCO to additional crops will provide producers another safety net option,” said RMA Administrator Brandon Willis.
RMA has developed an online Crop Insurance Decision Tool to help producers decide whether SCO is right their operation. The tool will help farmers understand how SCO coverage is determined, when it pays, the approximate premium cost, and how it interacts with traditional crop insurance.
For more information on crop insurance programs, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
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