Growers Affected By Vomitoxin, Proper Reporting Essential To Crop Insurance Eligibility

Harvest season is in full swing for much of the country’s wheat growers. This year’s added precipitation has made disease more prominent in many wheat-growing states including Colorado, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency, high levels of vomitoxin may result in either a discount in price or the requirement to destroy the grain.

RMA urges producers to always report any damage within the required timeframes and seek advice from your insurance company before proceeding with harvest or destruction of the damaged crop. Failure to do so may jeopardize your claim. Crop insurance policies require that you notify your company within 72 hours of noticing a loss. It is important that you be proactive in checking your fields to determine if there is any damage to the crop before harvest.

If you carry crop insurance policies subsidized or reinsured by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation you may be eligible for quality loss adjustments if the reason for the loss in value is due to a covered event, such as the excessive precipitation received this spring.