By Mary Hightower
Rice growers unable to finish their initial planting are weighing whether to try again, plant soybeans, or take a prevented planting payment, extension specialists said.
The Risk Management Agency of the United States Department of Agriculture offers prevented planting provisions in insurance policies that can help farmers when extreme weather conditions keep them from planting their expected crops. Prevented planting coverage is meant to offer protection based on pre-planting costs.
Claims are subject to planting dates and late planting periods that vary by crop and by area.
Rice growers are having to make the decision because it was either too dry to plant or when the rain did come, it became too wet to plant.
For rice, the RMA’s final planting date is May 25, with the late planting date ending June 9.
The decision, like much in farming, is a gamble.
“I think the story of prevented planting on rice surrounds the tradeoff between the prevented planting payment for rice and the expected profitability for late-planted soybeans,” said Hunter Biram, extension economist for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.
Biram said he spoke with a farmer who thought about taking a prevented planting payment on ground that could also be planted to soybeans. Among the factors to consider in this decision is a farmer’s Actual Production History, or APH, which is a rolling 4- to 10-year record of a farmer’s historical crop yields, which are used to establish yield guarantees in federal crop insurance programs.
Source : uada.edu