Crop Insurance Today Second Quarter 2022 - 22

Program and Policy
Developments
Resiliency In a Persistent COVID-19
Environment
As the realization settled in that COVID-19
was more than just a one-year event, the Federal
crop insurance program continued to adapt and
make plans for a much longer period of servicing
America's farmers during the pandemic. While
continued social distancing, quarantine, and
" stay at home " orders disappointed many at the
end of 2020, especially during the holiday season,
industry and RMA program leaders were looking
ahead to 2021 recognizing the program would
face more challenges to providing the high-quality
service America's farmers have become accustomed
to. Customer service was changing, there
was no " business as usual " and flexibility and resiliency
would be needed to ensure the Federal
crop insurance program remained responsive,
viable, and supportive of a strong farm economy
in the face of COVID challenges.
Many of the COVID-19 flexibilities that had
been developed during 2020 were continued
into 2021. These included extending time to file
production reports and complete perennial crop
inspections, creating efficiencies in handling
written agreements between RMA and approved
insurance providers (AIPs), allowing greater flexibility
to execute business transactions by utilizing
digital signatures and phone confirmation
of business transactions with written follow-up.
From a loss perspective there was an increase in
acres eligible for self-certification replant claims;
additional time allowed for organic certification;
a waiver of witness signature requirements for an
assignment of indemnity; and modifying livestock
policy requirements to recognize COVID
implications resulting from " dumped " milk
production.
At the same time there was a continued focus
on the health and safety of employees, agents,
loss adjusters, and policyholders. While most
people still worked from home full time and
continued social distancing, challenges were
emerging as to strategies for holding effective
meetings and on-site field training activities to
assure the crop insurance program operated as
intended and with a high degree of integrity. One
of the biggest challenges for 2021 was transitioning
NCIS sponsored loss adjuster schools from
an " in-person " to a virtual platform experience.
22 SECONDQUARTER2022
NCIS policy and training staff identified critical
elements necessary to develop a virtual loss
adjustment training experience and called upon
the regional/state committee members for their
assistance and expertise. Committee volunteers
captured video of the adjustment process and assisted
NCIS staff in developing training materials
that could be adaptable to virtual presentations.
Over 70 committee volunteers helped enable
NCIS staff to continue training adjusters safely
and efficiently by offering 12 core crop schools
with more than 1,000 participants. The pivot to a
virtual environment to support member standing
committees, regional and local adjuster training
sessions, along with national conferences, was
not without stress, difficulty, and the usual expected
hiccups. But the " Total Team " effort was
more than a " Teams " call and led to rewarding
and upbeat professional training sessions, and
the opportunity to learn and practice new skills,
which set in motion a resilient training curriculum
for the future.
COVID-19-related flexibilities were ultimately
extended into mid-January 2022. The industry's
investment and reliance on technology,
infrastructure, and its human capital responsible
for today's efficient and highly flexible delivery
system has been critical in successfully navigating
this historic pandemic period. In turn, the
Federal crop insurance program continued to
help American agriculture support and strengthen
our national security during a time the world
relied more on more on America's farmers.
Post-Election, Transition, and New
Leadership and Ideas
On the heels of the 2020 Presidential election,
the industry prepared for new leadership
at USDA, along with the potential for new ideas,
priorities, and program direction. As past Administration
officials leſt and new " transition
teams " arrived, numerous career civil servants
were asked to fill critical roles until arrival of
new political leadership. The crop insurance program
was fortunate to have strong industry and
career civil service leaders to manage the ongoing
challenges during a pandemic and the usual
day-to-day issues and problems that arise in an
ever-growing and expanding program with over
$150 billion of crop and livestock liability.
One of the first new initiatives came about
in June when RMA announced that it created
the Pandemic Cover Crop Program (PCCP)
designed to provide financial assistance to farmers
impacted by the effects of the pandemic and
market disruptions. This new program, supporting
cover crop conservation practices, used funds
available as part of the Pandemic Assistance
funded by the Consolidated Appropriations Act
of 2021. The PCCP provided premium support
to eligible farmers who insured their spring crop
and planted a qualifying cover crop by June 15
during the 2021 crop year. The premium support
was established at $5 per acre, and Approved Insurance
Providers adjusted the farmer's billing
statement to reflect a discount in the premium
owed by an amount calculated by RMA. To receive
the $5 per acre benefit, farmers reported
their qualifying cover crop acres to the Farm
Service Agency, and in turn RMA matched those
cover crop fields against the insured fields and
acreage reported by the farmer to their insurance
company. The first year of this new program saw
a little over 12 million acres of qualifying cover
crops planted and resulted in about $60 million
in premium discounts for insured farmers. The
program was popular, successful by most measures,
and was continued for the 2022 crop year.
By mid-summer RMA had re-evaluated the
role of cover crops in relation to the Federal
crop insurance program recognizing the multiple
benefits of cover crops and their interaction
with current and future cropping systems. Those
benefits included preventing soil and wind erosion,
improving the soil's physical and biological
properties, and suppressing weeds, all factors
especially important when soil is leſt bare aſter
a prevented planting situation. Previously, crop
insurance procedures for cover crops planted on
prevented planting acreage provided that a cover
crop could not be hayed, grazed, or cut for silage,
haylage, or baleage, until aſter November 1, or
risk being considered a second crop, resulting
in a 65 percent reduction of the full prevented
planting payment. RMA administratively rescinded
the November 1 date related to acreage
that was prevented from planting and that a cover
crop was subsequently planted and used for haying,
grazing, cutting for silage, haylage or baleage
for the 2021 crop year resulting in the removal
of a reduction in the prevented planting payment.
Later in the fall of 2021, RMA made the
change permanent through regulatory action for
the 2022 and succeeding crop years. However, a
cover crop harvested for grain or seed at any time
still results in a prevented planting payment reduction.
This effort was another example of how
the program was responsive to climate change
initiatives aimed at increasing cover crop acreage.
Crop Insurance Today Second Quarter 2022

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