Organic & Specialty Crop Insurance Updates from the USDA RMA

By Pamela stahlKe, amBer solder & miChael green

The United States Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency’s (RMA) 10 Regional Offices are responsible for administering the Federal Crop Insurance Program for America’s farmers and ranchers at the local level. The mission of our agency is to provide effective, market-based risk management tools for agricultural producers. Namely, this is the public-private partnership to deliver crop insurance. The St. Paul Regional Office serves this mission as the public face of our agency in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin by engaging stakeholders to guide on-going improvement and education for crop insurance.

As part of our efforts to provide effective risk management tools we are proud to partner with stakeholders, such as Marbleseed, to engage and educate shared stakeholders on relevant topics that are important to producers in our region. Accordingly, we are happy to report on some recent updates to the crop insurance program for organic, specialty and diversified growers. Understanding crop insurance offerings and available initiatives is critical to providing an effective farm safety net. In this article, we will share information about a new initiative RMA is offering called Transitional Organic Grower Assistance, (TOGA) that is only available to organic growers. Additionally, we will also explain updates to the existing policies of Micro Farm and Whole Farm Revenue Protection that include links to webinars for opportunities to join the “RMA Roadshow” live!

The Risk Management Agency’s nationwide Transitional Organic Grower Assistance (TOGA) program is part of USDA’s Organic Transition Initiative (farmers.gov/organic-transition-initiative), a collection of programs to build more and better markets for American growers and consumers and improve the resilience of the food supply chain. TOGA provides premium assistance to eligible producers who insure grain and feed crops in transition to organic or certified organic during the 2023 reinsurance year and is available nationwide. Eligible organic grain and feed crops are: alfalfa seed, barley, buckwheat, canola, corn, cultivated wild rice, dry beans, dry peas, flax, forage production, forage seeding, fresh market sweet corn, grain sorghum, hybrid corn seed, hybrid popcorn seed, hybrid sorghum seed, hybrid sweet corn seed, millet, oats, crops insured under the Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage policy, peanuts, popcorn, rice, rye, safflower, sesame, silage sorghum, soybeans, sunflowers, sweet corn, triticale, and wheat. No sign-up is required to participate in TOGA. The premium assistance will automatically apply to the 2023 reinsurance year billing statements, which covers applicable policies with sales closing dates from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023. TOGA benefits will not apply to Catastrophic Risk Protection (CAT) policies as these policies do not have a producer premium. Therefore, to be eligible to receive the benefit, producers must purchase a coverage policy that has a producer premium and report eligible acres with their crop insurance agent on their acreage report.

The TOGA benefit is limited to the total premium owed. If the calculated subsidy amount is greater than the bill, the remaining subsidy will not be paid to the producer as the producer premium is zero. Further, premium assistance from other premium subsidy programs can be received in addition to TOGA. It’s important to note that the TOGA premium subsidy only applies to the underlying policy. Insureds should be aware that the TOGA subsidy will not apply on premium owed on Enhanced Coverage Option (ECO), Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO), Post-Application Coverage Endorsement (PACE), and Margin Protection (MP). For example, if a producer purchases a wheat policy and SCO, TOGA will only apply to the wheat policy.

A producer eligible for TOGA will receive the following discounts on their premium billing statement: • 10 percentage points of premium subsidy for all crops in transition to certified organic; • $5 per insured acre premium assistance for certified organic grain and feed crops; and • 10 percentage points of premium subsidy for all Whole Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) policies covering crops in transition to certified organic or certified organic crops.

Producers who have additional individual crop insurance policies will also receive the applicable premium assistance on those policies.

Designed as a flexible option to serve many different types of producers, Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) provides a risk management safety net for all commodities on the farm under one insurance policy and is available in all counties nationwide. This insurance plan is tailored for any farm with up to $17 million in insured revenue, including farms with specialty or organic commodities (both crops and livestock), or those marketing to local, regional, farm-identity preserved, specialty, or direct markets. The policy has recently been updated to make it more flexible and accessible to producers beginning with the 2023 crop year. Further, the Micro Farm program, offered through WFRP, provides insurance coverage with reduced requirements, which supports the needs of smaller growers. Producers with farm operations up to $350,000 in approved revenue can get coverage using the Micro Farm program.

Some reasons to consider WFRP: • Insuring two or more commodities under this policy provides a discount to the premium as well as an additional subsidy that further reduces the amount of premium paid; • It provides coverage for all commodities, which is especially important if the crop or livestock produced is otherwise not insurable; • Operations may be allowed to increase their approved revenue amount beyond their actual revenue history to account for the growth trends in their revenue.

RMA has also implemented updates to the WFRP program for the 2023 crop year with the purpose of simplifying WFRP based upon feedback received. Producers can now report and self-certify yields at the beginning of the year for commodities without other insurance policies. This change was made in an effort to reduce the paperwork burden required to apply for WFRP. Along a similar vein, expense reporting has also been eliminated. Now, WFRP will reduce the expected revenue of commodities a producer is unable to plant to 60%, which is similar to prevented planting for other insurance programs. These are just the most recent changes made to expand coverage and offer flexibilities for organic and other specialty growers under this policy. Questions about WFRP can be found on the WFRP Frequently Asked Questions Page at: www.rma.usda.gov/en/NewsRoom/Frequently-Asked-Questions/Whole-Farm-Revenue-Protection-Plan-2023.

The Micro Farm program, offered through WFRP, provides insurance coverage for producers with farm operations up to $350,000 in approved revenue. This is an expanded limit that was formerly $100,000 in approved revenue the previous crop year. Similar to WFRP, Micro Farm is also designed to protect a diversified farm under one safety net, but provides insurance coverage with reduced requirements, which supports the needs of smaller growers. Additional information about the Micro Farm Program can be found at this link: www. rma.usda.gov/en/Fact-Sheets/National-Fact-Sheets/Micro-Farm-Program.

Producers can learn more about these insurance options by speaking to a crop insurance agent or by attending an upcoming “Road Show” workshop virtually or in-person. Whole Farm and Micro Farm Road Show events are workshops hosted by RMA for agricultural producers on the Microsoft Teams platform and the purpose is to help producers learn more about these insurance options. Further information can be found at the following link: www.rma.usda.gov/Topics/Outreach-and-Education/ RMA-Roadshow. The next Road Show events will occur on: • Tuesday, November 15 at 8:00 p.m. PT • Tuesday, December 13 at 11:00 a.m. ET

Several in-person Road Show workshops are also in the beginning stages of development for early 2023, and one is planned in the St. Paul Region. We recommend visiting our Regional Office webpage for information about this and other important crop insurance updates in the coming months. USDA Risk Management Agency St. Paul Regional Office (www.rma.usda.gov/en/RMALocal/Field-Offices/Regional-Offices/St-Paul-Minnesota-Regional-Office-Page).

Finally, if you are new to crop insurance it’s important to know that crop insurance is sold and delivered solely through private crop insurance agents. A list of crop insurance agents is available at all USDA Service Centers and online at the RMA Agent Locator Tool (rma.usda. gov/Information-Tools/Agent-Locator-Page). Additionally, if you want to learn more about crop insurance or find information about other RMA programs please visit our RMA public page at rma.usda.gov.

To find contact information for this or other USDA Risk Management Agency offices go to the RMA Regional Office Locator and click on your state Regional Offices | RMA (usda.gov) (www.rma.usda.gov/RMALocal/ Field-Offices/Regional-Offices).

At RMA we welcome questions and feedback on the crop insurance program. Please feel free to reach out by email or by phone. Wishing you a safe and productive year ahead.

RMA St. Paul Regional Office Email: RSOMN@usda.gov RMA St. Paul Regional Office Phone: 651-290-3304

Pamela Stahlke is the Director of the USDA Risk Management Agency based in St. Paul, Minnesota administering the federal crop insurance program in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Risk Management Specialist, Amber Solder is the organic subject matter expert (SME), and Michael Greene is the Micro/Whole Farm and Specialty Crop (SME). MarBLeSeed.org | 27