Facing Delayed Harvest? Don’t Forget Crop Insurance Requirements

By Dennis Rudat, Michigan Farm Bureau

If you’re experiencing harvest delays on corn and soybean crops covered under a crop insurance policy, and think you’ll potentially have a loss, you should immediately contact your crop insurance agent to file a Notice of Loss and request more time to complete harvest.

According to Kevin Robson, crop insurance manager for Farm Bureau Insurance, the late-maturing corn and soybean crops coupled with extremely wet and wintery conditions this fall have extended harvest for producers across the state.

The latest USDA Crop Progress Report for Michigan shows that as of Nov. 17, corn harvest for grain was only 39% complete, trailing the five-year average of 75%. Soybean harvest was reported as 76% complete, compared to the five-year average of 91%.

Robson expects saturated soils and persistent rain events will push corn harvest and, to a lesser extent, soybean harvest well beyond the normal Dec. 10 harvest deadline.

“With the unprecedented rainfall and snow we’ve experienced, many fields are so wet that producers will have no option to harvest until soils are frozen enough to support equipment,” Robson said. “If so, producers must file a Notice of Loss and request more time to harvest before the end of the insurance period, so that Federal crop insurance claims are settled based on the amount of harvested production,”

According to Robson, decisions on requests for additional time to harvest are made on a case-by-case basis when all of the following conditions are met:

The producer gives timely notice of loss to his or her crop insurance agent.
The delay in harvest was due to an insured cause of loss.
The producer demonstrates that harvest was not possible due to insured causes, such as wet conditions preventing access to the field with equipment or that harvesting under such conditions would damage equipment.
The delay in harvest was not because the producer did not have sufficient equipment or manpower to harvest the crop by the end of the insurance period.

When a request for additional time to harvest is authorized, remember:

The end of the insurance period is not extended. Rather, the producer is granted additional time to attempt to harvest the crop to settle any loss based on harvested production.
Any additional damage to the insured crop during the extension period is covered provided it is due to an insurable cause of loss like excessive moisture.
The producer’s crop insurance policy will cover loss of quality (as specified in the crop provisions), reduced yields, and revenue losses if revenue coverage was chosen.
The cost of drying the harvested crop is not covered.

For more information and assistance contact one of the following Farm Bureau Crop Insurance Specialists or multi-line agents.