Federal Crop Insurance proposes benefit

The Department of Agriculture's Risk Management Agency (RMA) announced today that it has published a proposed rule in the Federal Register that would reward farmers participating in the federal crop insurance program for good performance.

 

"This proposed Good Performance Refund will benefit qualifying farmers and ranchers across rural America and strengthen the Federal crop insurance program," said RMA administrator, William J. Murphy. "It encourages producers to use the best available management practices in order to qualify for the refund in future years and rewards good performance by returning a portion of the out-of-pocket costs paid for crop insurance premiums back to those who have paid into the program and have had limited or no losses."

 

Under the proposed program, payment amounts would vary by producer and will be based on each qualified producer's history in the program. RMA estimates that the average refund amount per producer this year will be about $1,000. The program has a proposed maximum limit at $25,000, with a minimum payment of $25. The first year of the proposed program will use data from 2009 and prior crop years because not all 2010 data is finalized.

 

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