USDA issued memo clarifying crop insurance issues in SC

Guidelines on harvesting damaged crops are relaxed in light of massive losses and wet fields that won’t sustain mechanical harvesting

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In South Carolina, Agriculture Commissioner Hugh Weathers seems not to rest when coming to bat for framers beleaguered by the weather, not to mention bureaucracy.

After convening a meeting with the United State Department of Agriculture Risk Management Agency (RMA) late last month, Weathers this week noted that the RMA has issued a memorandum clarifying and simplifying steps farmers need to take in order to collect on their crop insurance after flooding caused more than a half billion dollars of damages and losses to the state’s agricultural businesses.

Floods and subsequent wet weather have rendered soybean, cotton and peanut crops in some parts of the state a near total loss.

“Crop insurance is not designed to protect farmers from the unprecedented size and scope of losses due to the flood and subsequent rain events,” Weathers said in a statement issued this week. “These procedural clarifications from RMA will hopefully help South Carolina farmers on the road to recovery. But, we still have a long way to go.”

Memorandum IS-15-010, issued by the USDA to all approved insurance providers (AIPs), states that crops which producers determine cannot be harvested profitably do not need to be harvested in order for the farmer to file a claim. The memo also sets out what procedures need to be followed in such cases.

The memo further states that the RMA has had discussions with insurers and has been assured that insurers have “the financial and loss adjustment resources available to expeditiously handle the claim workload.”

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