Sugar beet producers should have more flexibility purchasing crop insurance following policy changes announced by USDA’s Risk Management Agency. RMA says the changes simplify the policy for producers and crop insurance providers by aligning practices used across the industry while also clarifying available options. Contract changes include removing the reference to the July 15 contract-change date as the date is no longer applicable in any county; revised dates now apply to states instead of individual counties. Another change clarifies the determination of production in settlement of claims to use “pounds of raw sugar” instead of “standardized tons.” The policy was changed following a contracted RMA study in 2015. RMA then worked with industry partners to address the study’s recommendations to improve the policy. The changes become effective for the 2019 crop year and succeeding crop years in states with a Nov. 30 contract-change date and for the 2020 and succeeding crop years in all other states. “RMA is consistently looking for ways to make crop insurance more effective and accessible for producers,” said RMA Administrator Martin Barbre. “The changes to the sugar beets policy is a reflection of that effort.”
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