Producers should continue to work with their Approved Insurance Providers (AIPs), on policies, claims, and agreements. Farmers with crop insurance questions or needs should continue to contact their insurance agents about conducting business by telephone or email.
USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) is working with those insurance providers to provide additional flexibilities in response to COVID-19, including:
- Allowing phone and electronic transactions for sales closing, acreage reporting and production reporting dates, including options, endorsements and their forms.
- Expanding authority for replant self-certification.
- Waiving the witness signature requirement for approval of Assignments of Indemnity.
- Allowing dumped milk to be counted as milk marketings for the Dairy Revenue Protection or actual marketings for the Livestock Gross Margin for Dairy programs.
- Extending the deadline for some Regional Office Determined Yield requests, Master Yields and Determined Irrigated Yield requests.
- Exception for producer written agreement offer signature deadline when caused by COVID-19 due to a producer’s physical inability to sign the offer by the expiration date.
- Authorizing AIPs to allow organic producers to report acreage as certified organic, or transitioning to organic, when producers certify they have requested a written certification from a certifying agent by their policy’s acreage reporting date.
Electronic Notifications
For policy due dates occurring through July 15, 2021, notifications and information may be sent by phone or electronic methods between policyholders and their crop insurance agents to do the following:
- Acreage and production reporting, and sales closing dates (deadlines to buy crop insurance)
- Sales Closing, Production Reporting and Acreage Reporting Dates: To make policy elections, such as coverage level, and to report acreage and production
- Reporting Deadline for Options, Endorsements and Forms: To select options and endorsements occurring for the sales closing, production reporting date and acreage reporting deadline
Notice of the policyholder’s election may be provided over the phone with appropriate documentation of the call or using electronic methods followed by their confirmation of such election in writing (via a signed, or e-signed, form) no later than 60 calendar days after the initial reporting deadline provided in the actuarial documents.
Replant Self-Certification
For crop years 2020 and 2021 replant notifications received by the AIP through December 31, 2020, and all applicable crop years through June 30, 2021. AIPs are authorized to allow self-certification replant inspections for up to 100 gross acres (before considering share) per unit in lieu of 50 acres.
Authorized crops for self-certification of up to 100 acres for replant include: barley and wheat not covered by the Winter Coverage Endorsement (both initially planted winter and spring crops), buckwheat, canola and rapeseed, corn, dry beans, flax (spring-seeded only), grain sorghum, mustard, oats (spring-seeded only), popcorn (including popcorn revenue), peanuts, rice, safflowers, soybeans, sugar beets, and sunflower seed.
Assignment of Indemnity
AIPs are authorized to waive the witness signature requirement for approval of Assignments through December 31, 2020 for crop years 2019 through 2021, and all applicable crop years through June 30, 2021, as applicable. The insured’s and creditor’s signature on the Assignment will be required in a pen and ink signature and in the hand of the person whose signature is required or an acceptable electronic (digital) signature in accordance with the AIPs’ established Electronic Business Implementation Plan and applicable RMA procedures.
Producer Signature Deadline for Written Agreement Offers:
If a written agreement offer is provided to the producer, but the producer fails to sign the offer by the expiration date identified on the offer, the producer’s signature after the expiration date may still be accepted.
If the signature and date are executed after the expiration date of the written agreement offer, the producer must provide a self-certification, or other documentation, showing that COVID-19 caused a physical inability to sign the offer by the expiration date. This self-certification, or other documentation, must include a brief explanation of the circumstances
surrounding the situation (such as, producer was quarantined, etc.) and must be included with the signed and accepted written agreement offer when returned to RMA.
Only written agreement offers issued by RMA on or before June 30, 2021, with an expiration date on or before July 30, 2021, will have producer signatures accepted after the expiration date with proper self-certification or documentation. All documentation and signatures for these offers must be completed no later than August 2, 2021. Written agreement offers signed after the expiration date due to COVID-19 must be electronically submitted, by the insurance provider, to RMA through the ROE system no later than 15 business days after the producer signed the written agreement offer.
Organic Certification Flexibilities
For the 2021, 2022 crop years, and all applicable crop years through June 30, 2021, AIPs may allow a policyholder to report acreage as certified organic, or as acreage in transition to organic, when the policyholder certifies that they have requested a written certification or other written documentation from a certifying agent on or before the ARD. Policyholders must continue to use generally recognized organic practices in accordance with their policy. This relief also applies to the Whole Farm Revenue Protection policy.
Policyholders must notify their agent within 30 calendar days of receiving notification from their certifying agent that their organic plan or certificate was not approved. The policyholder notification may be made by phone, email, text, or other electronic communication method.
If the requested certificate or plan is not approved, the acreage report and premium may be revised appropriately by the AIP when such notice is timely received from the policyholder.
Consistent with existing loss adjustment standards, AIPs must verify an organic plan or certificate is in effect for organic practices during the loss adjustment process.
For the most current updates on available services, visit farmers.gov/coronavirus.