Drs. Keith Coble and Brian Williams of the MSU Dept. of Agricultural Economics have posted a blog entitled “Six questions for your crop insurance agent–seven if you grow rice”.  The questions are:

What about enterprise units? Criteria for qualification are listed, and the additional subsidy associated with enterprise units vs. basic and optional units are shown.

May I qualify for trend adjusted (TA) yields? TA results in a higher approved yield and greater indemnity payments, which result in higher premium rates.

May I qualify for APH yield exclusions (YE)? YE allows for the exclusion of an actual yield for a crop year based on RMA determination. YE results in a higher approved yield and greater indemnity payments, which in turn result in higher premium rates.

What is the premium for different coverage levels? An included table shows the subsidy percentage of different coverages, and the increasing rate differential with increasing coverage level.

What about topping off individual coverage with SCO or STAX for cotton?

What about separate coverage levels by practice? Separate coverage allows choice of different coverage levels for irrigated and nonirrigated acreage.

What about margin insurance or margin protection (MP)? In Mississippi, MP will only be available for rice in 2016.

Click on the above link to view tables and links that provide greater detail about and supporting data for the discussed subjects.

Composed by Larry G. Heatherly, Jan. 2016, larryheatherly@bellsouth.net