News

Deadlines for crops are coming at a quick pace

By Heather Milbrath

06/04/2013

As most North Dakota residents know, we had a very long winter this year. The long winter pushed spring to arrive late, which in turn forced planting to start later for farmers.

James Kapp, Bottineau County Extension Agent, feels that planting is going very slow due to the large amount of water this area received recently and the late spring.

“It is going to be a struggle to get crops in.” Kapp said. “Many farmers might have to make other decisions on what crops to plant. Some might also plan not to plant some acres.”

Because of this late planting and recent rain, farmers are fighting to meet certain planting deadlines to get crops in. Some of these deadlines have passed like lentils, dry peas and corn for grain, because that deadline was May 25. The majority of crops must be in by June 5, including: barley, canola, corn for silage, oats, sunflowers and wheat. Farmers still have some time for flax and soybeans, as that deadline is June 10.

These deadlines are set by Risk Management Agency (RMA), a division of the Department of Agriculture. According to Deb Metcalfe, Agency Manager at First National Insurance Agency, the deadlines set by the RMA are essentially the law of the land for farmers, because any farmer who is part of the farm program must have crop insurance.

“The majority of farmers do have crop insurance.” Metcalfe said. “If farmers cannot get their crops in by the June 5 or June 10 deadline, they will not plant after that.

Farmers can still plant after the deadlines, but their coverage percent drops each day. With wheat, whose deadline is June 5, a farmer can plant in the late period until June 25. If the wheat is not planted by June 25, it is not insurable.

Although crop insurance is based out the USDA, it is sold at the private sector level. There are 17 private sector companies that sell crop insurance. This privatization of crop insurance allows for competition and gives the farmer the power to choose which company he or she feels is best.
The insurance that most farmers have is what is called multi-peril crop insurance (MPCI).

According to the Farm Credit Services website, MPCI “protects against the risk of loss crop production due to revenue losses, hail, wind and other adverse weather conditions, as well as fire, insects and plant disease.”

Metcalfe said that MPCI covers for production loss only, and is based on the average production history. This is based on yield records on each piece of insurable land in the past, anywhere from four to 10 years. Most farmers today insure about 70 to 75 percent of their acreage, which is high compared to past averages around 60 percent. A farmer can personalize his insurance plan based on their own operation, which is another benefit of private crop insurance.

In addition to MPCI, farmers can also get crop hail insurance, which helps farmers deal with the devastating effects of hail. This helps to fill that gap not covered by MPCI.

Some farmers have been able to meet those insurance deadlines, and the crops that were able to be planted appear to be coming up well.

“The winter wheat that was planted last fall (which is not very many acres) is looking very nice.” Kapp said. “I have also heard that some spring wheat is coming up and looks very well.”