New risk management tool links crop insurance to yield benefits
By Sara Wyant
© Copyright Agri-Pulse Communications, Inc.
St. Louis, MO. and Lubbock, TX-Growers could have a new risk management tool available in 2011, linking crop insurance to yield benefits. Monsanto and ARMtech Insurance Services announced today that they have developed Biotech Yield AssuranceSM, a new crop insurance policy linked to the yield benefits associated with Genuity® Roundup Ready 2 Yield® soybeans, Genuity SmartStax™ and SmartStax™ corn.
For an incremental premium, Biotech Yield AssuranceSM will enable eligible farmers to increase coverage by 10% of the existing yield guarantee for each insured unit that is 100% planted to Genuity® Roundup Ready 2 Yield® soybeans in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Minnesota and each insured unit that is 95% planted to Genuity SmartStax™ and SmartStax corn in the states of Iowa and Minnesota.
“Monsanto’s trials have shown that Genuity® Roundup Ready 2 Yield® soybeans and Genuity® SmartStax™ corn are consistent in high-yield production, allowing ARMtech to insure this additional yield with the new Biotech Yield AssuranceSM policy,” said Ted Etheredge, President of ARMtech.
“Biotech Yield AssuranceSM policy can help address the risk gap between new high-yielding genetics and actual production history (APH) used for insurance purposes,” Etheredge added. “For example, a grower with an APH of 50 bushels and a Biotech Yield AssuranceSM policy for Genuity® Roundup Ready 2 Yield® soybeans can bring his total unit coverage to 93.5% and insure an additional 4.25 bushels. That’s compared to a Multi-Peril Crop Insurance policy covering 85% of APH – the highest coverage possible under federal crop insurance policies today.”
ARMtech filed the Biotech Yield AssuranceSM policy as a non-reinsured supplemental insurance policy with the states’ insurance regulatory agencies and the USDA’s Risk Management Agency, which administers the programs on behalf of the FCIC.
Biotech Yield AssuranceSM is not subsidized by the FCIC. Farmers interested in learning more about the program should contact ARMtech and other participating insurance providers. Pending approval by each state’s insurance regulatory agency and a review by the Risk Management Agency, the policy will be available for 2011 as a supplement to Multi-Peril Crop Insurance products.
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