Crop insurance claim clarifications for South Carolina Farmers

COLUMBIA, SC – Pursuant to a request by South Carolina Agriculture Commissioner Hugh Weathers, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA) has released a memorandum related to crop insurance claims resulting from flooding and wet harvest conditions.

Last month’s excessive rainfall and flood events caused nearly $376 million in crop loss to South Carolina’s farmers – $587 million total to the SC agriculture industry.  At the heart of that loss was near complete destruction of planted acres of soybeans, cotton, and peanuts.

Hearing from concerned farmers about complexities of the current federally controlled crop insurance system, Commissioner Weathers convened a meeting on November 20 with leaders from RMA – the authorizing agency of farmers’ crop insurance policies – and nearly 40 affected farmers, cotton ginners, grain buyers, crop insurance agents, and adjusters.

As part of the ongoing conversations between state and federal leaders, RMA issued the attached memo which provides some answers and clarifications to loss scenarios many farmers are facing, including:

• The ability that exists for insurance adjusters to determine that a crop is, or will remain, unable to be mechanically harvested
• Claims can be finalized and acreage released prior to being harvested or destroyed
• Reconciliation of appraised and actual production and settlement of indemnities
• Procedures surrounding harvest before and after the end of insurance period

“Crop insurance is not designed to protect farmers from the unprecedented size and scope of losses due to the flood and subsequent rain events. These procedural clarifications from RMA will hopefully help South Carolina farmers on the road to recovery.  But, we still have a long ways to go,” said Agriculture Commissioner Hugh Weathers.

Attachment: RMA Informational Memorandum IS-15-010