Crop insurance is a federally funded program, and it is important to follow the requirements and deadlines of your crop insurance policy to get your claim dollars when you need them. Below are the most common errors found.
Documents have no signature or date –
We cannot stress enough how important it is to sign and timely date all crop insurance documents. Signatures on FSA paperwork do not count.
Important Deadlines were missed –
Missing important dates can result in your insurance being cancelled for the year. Signing up for our text or email service is a great way to get reminders when things are due and what we need from you.
Application Time
- The entity has changed – When your farming operation changes, we need to know. Crop insurance follows the entity that sells your grain. Ideally this is also the entity that you certify your acres at FSA in, but that is not a requirement. Other changes that people sometimes miss are marriage, divorce, death, setting up a new entity, members changing in the current entity, etc.
- The crop rotation has changed – Changing your rotation may have a big impact on your premium. You don’t have to officially tell us where you plant your crop until acreage reporting time, but it is a good idea to go over your planting intentions for the year with your agent.
Acreage Report
- Missing FSA documentation – If you certify at FSA, this is the first place a claims adjuster will look to verify information to pay out claims, so it helps if the information matches. We recommend that you have FSA send us your report directly, or you include it when you return your acreage report to us. Cross referencing the FSA documentation with your report is also the most common way to check for errors.
- Checking your schedule – After we have finished with your acreage report, you receive a schedule of insurance. Please double check this document as soon as you can. This is another way to check for errors.
- Waiting too long to fix errors – The sooner an error is identified, the easier it is to fix. If an acreage reporting error is not caught until claim time or after, depending on the situation, it may result in your indemnity denied on those acres.
- Not reporting all of your acres – Crop insurance requires that you report all of your acres of the crop that is insured on your acreage report. This includes late planted, prevent plant, double crop, and uninsurable acres.
Production Report
- Waiting too long to turn in your production – Knowing your final production can determine whether you have a claim or not. It is important to turn your figures into your agent as soon as possible after harvest in case you have a claim.
- Commingling production – We recommend you keep track of your production in the same manner your report your acres. If you have signed up and qualified for enterprise units, you are allowed to commingle your production provided you indicated that on your form. If you do not indicate commingled production, you could be faced with receiving assigned yields in all of your historical databases for the year. If you have elected optional units, you are not allowed to commingle the production of your farms together, and will receive penalty yields if you do. If you are placing your crop in a storage bin, you must have a record of how your bushels are separated per farm.
- Forgetting to put the production type on your form – The production type indicates how your production for the year was established (ie. if it was sold, fed, combine monitor records, etc).
Claims
- Forgetting to tell your agent when your crop is in trouble – Claims can be turned in by phone, email, text, or written notice. A delayed notice or delayed claim is one of the top reasons insurance money is denied.
- Yield claims should be turned in no later than 15 days after the end of the insurance period (either when the crop is harvested or December 10th, whichever is SOONER). Failure to do this will result in a delayed notice.
- The claims process with an adjuster should be started within 60 days of the end of the insurance period. Failure to do this will result in a delayed claim.
- Revenue claims should be turn in no later than 45 days after the final prices is set.
- Waiting Until Harvest Is Complete – Claims are turned in by crop/by county, and the claims deadlines are by unit. If you are waiting until you have your entire harvest in for the year, you may miss a claim deadline on one of your crops or unit. It is best to contact our office immediately if you have a farm with low yields. It is MUCH easier to withdraw a claim than it is to turn in a late claim. There is no penalty for turning in a claim and then withdrawing it.
- You Must Start the Claim Process – Agents are not permitted to turn in claims for you without your knowledge. Claims must be initiated by the policyholder.