Crop insurance deadline next week
Washington Ag Today November 13, 2009 Next Friday, November 20th, is an important crop insurance sales closing date in the northwest. Jo Lynne Seufer with the regional office of the Risk Management Agency says it’s the sales closing date for several fruit crops for 2010. Seufer: “Those fruit crops that have that have that closing date are apples, blueberries, our actual revenue cherry pilot, cranberries, fresh apricots, fresh freestone peaches, fresh nectarines, pears, and again grapes.” Several enhancements have been made to the Grape Multi-Peril crop provisions and coverage has been expanded into several western Washington counties. The Risk Management Agency also reminds producers of the important link between Federal crop insurance and Farm Service Agency Disaster Assistance programs for the 2010 year. To maintain eligibility for FSA’s disaster programs, producers must obtain a policy or a plan of insurance of at least catastrophic level coverage if available. For those crops that are non-insurable, coverage under the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program must also be timely obtained. Washington State University was recently awarded two U.S. Department of Agriculture grants to support and assist beginning and disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. WSU says the grants, one for 525-thousand dollars and another for 300-thousand, will support and strengthen the Small Farms Program’s immigrant farmer program. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
