Feds Authorize Emergency Procedures to Help Drought-Impacted Producers

July 13, 2021

The United States Department of Agriculture is authorizing emergency procedures to help agricultural producers impacted by extreme drought conditions.

USDA’s Risk Management Agency is working with crop insurance companies to streamline and accelerate the adjustment of losses and issuance of indemnity payments to crop insurance policyholders in impacted areas.

This is part of the USDA’s broader response to help producers impacted by drought, in the West, Northern Great Plains, Caribbean and other areas.

Emergency procedures enable insurers to accept delayed notices of loss in certain situations, streamline paperwork and reduce the number of required representative samples when damage is consistent. These flexibilities will reduce burdens on both insurers and producers to help mitigate drought effects, according to the USDA.

Producers are advised to contact their crop insurance agent as soon as they notice damage. Insurers must have an opportunity to inspect the crop before the producer puts their crop acres to another use.

Additional information on these emergency procedures is available on RMA’s Crop Insurance and Drought Damaged Crop webpage.

Producers impacted by drought may also qualify for other USDA programs, including disaster assistance programs.

Crop insurance is sold and delivered solely through private crop insurance agents. A list of crop insurance agents is available at all USDA Service Centers and online at the RMA Agent Locator. Learn more about crop insurance and the modern farm safety net at rma.usda.gov.

Related:

Was this article valuable?

Here are more articles you may enjoy.