Operators of diversified farms will see more affordable rates for crop insurance under the new Whole Farm Revenue Protection policy, said USDA’s Risk Management Agency. The new policy “will expand options for speciality crop, organic and diversified crop producers, allowing them to insure all the crops at once instead of one commodity at a time. That gives them the option of promoting crop diversity and helps support the production of a wider variety of healthy foods.” said RMA in a statement. The whole-farm premium subsidy “will provide diversified farms a higher premium subsidy than previously available.”
RMA said more information will be available in mid-November.
According to the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, the subsidy rate will be 80 percent on policies that cover from 50-75 percent of farm revenue. “This is an important step to level the playing field” compared to farmers who planted large tracts to a single crop, said NSAC, which argued for inclusion of WFRP in the 2014 farm law. In many cases, coverage is not available for individual crops grown on a diversified farm. NSAC said the new policy would be “an especially attractive option for diversified farms with resource-conserving crop rotations, integrated grain and livestock systems, specialty crop growers, and organic producers.”