There are a few times when the elections you make for crop insurance directly affect your program eligibility at FSA or vice versa.
Conservation Compliance –
If you carry a crop insurance policy, even if you do not certify you acres at FSA, you are required to have a conservation compliance form (Form AD-1026) on file at FSA. If you do not have one of these forms signed by the billing date for the crop you have insured, then you will not qualify to receive any subsidy for your crop insurance policy.
ARC & SCO –
If you have signed up for the ARC program at FSA, you are not able to sign up for the Supplemental Coverage Option through crop insurance. If you elect SCO and ARC for the same crop on a farm, your SCO coverage for that crop on that farm will be cancelled. You must report the crop on that farm as covered by ARC on your acreage report or you will forfeit 20 percent of your SCO premium on that crop and farm to cover administrative expenses. However, your underlying policy will still be in effect. For more information on ARC, click here. For more information on SCO, click here
WHIP+ Program –
The Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus (WHIP+) provided payments to producers to offset losses from hurricanes, wildfires, and other qualifying natural disasters that occurred in 2018 and 2019.
Both insured and uninsured producers were eligible to apply for WHIP+, but all producers who received payments for crop losses and prevented planting losses were required to purchase either crop insurance or Noninsured Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) coverage. Coverage was required at the 60% level or higher for the next two available, consecutive crop years following the crop year for which WHIP+ payments were distributed.
If producers fail to purchase crop insurance for the next two consecutive years, they will be required to pay back their WHIP+ payment. Enrollment for WHIP+ is currently closed. More information can be found at https://www.farmers.gov/recover/whip-plus
Quality Loss Adjustment –
Not to be confused with the Quality Loss Option through crop insurance, this FSA program is new for 2021, and provides financial assistance to crop producers who experienced quality losses caused by qualifying disaster events in the 2018 and 2019 crop years.
All producers receiving QLA payments are required to purchase federal crop insurance or NAP coverage for the next two available crop years at the 60% coverage level or higher in the county for which the producer was issued a QLA payment.
Wildlife and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus (WHIP+) participants who already met the WHIP+ requirement to purchase crop insurance or NAP coverage are considered to have thereby met the requirement to purchase crop insurance or NAP coverage for QLA.
Deadline to sign up for this new program is 3/5/21. More information can be found at https://www.farmers.gov/quality-loss
Cover Crop Discount-
The cover crop discount program in Iowa and Illinois is new for Indiana in 2021. There will be a $5/ac premium discount applied to their crop insurance premium for Henry, Randolph, Hamilton, Tipton, and Madison counties as long as the grower plants cover crops and reports this to FSA.
ERP-
The Emergency Relief Program covers the 2020 and 2021 crop years. If you qualified for a payment at FSA by having a qualifying disaster during those crop years, you are required to carry at least 60% coverage through crop insurance for the next 2 crop years. More information can be found at https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/emergency-relief/index