Hoeven: RMA Provides Crop Insurance Flexibility for Farmers Facing Delayed Harvest

Senator John Hoeven, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee and a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA) is providing flexibility for farmers who have been unable to complete harvest prior to December 10, the end date for insurance policies covering most spring-planted crops, including corn and soybeans. This action comes after Hoeven spoke with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and wrote to the RMA, urging them to issue guidance to farmers, insurance companies and loss adjustors on properly processing delayed crops and filing claims as harvest continues past the deadline. The full text of Hoeven’s letter to the RMA can be found here.

“Our farmers need to know that their insurance policies will cover them when facing long delays in harvest,” said Hoeven. “We appreciate Secretary Perdue, Under Secretary Northey and RMA Administrator Barbre for working with us to issue this guidance prior to the December 10th deadline. Doing so provides much-needed certainty for our agriculture producers as they work through bad weather and difficult conditions to bring this year’s crop out of the field.”

“I appreciate Chairman Hoeven’s focus on the needs of our farmers and his efforts to get this guidance to them so they can continue to farm even after bad weather hurts their operations,”said USDA Farm Production and Conservation Under Secretary Bill Northey.