KING CROP NEWS

Spring Crop Discovery Prices

As of 2/12/16

Corn $3.88 Soybeans $8.90 Grain Sorghum $3.74

Brought to you by: King Crop Insurance, Inc. February 2016

The 2015 production is DUE NOW!

You recently received production work-

sheets (yellow form) to report your

harvested crops for 2015. In order to

provide an accurate quote we must

have your production reports complet-

ed, signed and returned to us as soon

as possible.

Send us an email…….As technology changes

so are we! Going forward we will begin using

email and texting as a additional resource to

keep you informed of upcoming events, dead-

lines, commodity prices, etc. Please send an

email to agents@kingcrop.com providing us

with current cell phone number(s). These num-

bers could be your cell phone number in addi-

tion to any or all persons involved in your farm-

ing operation you would like to be in-

formed of communications from King

Crop Insurance.

(Please be sure to include your name)

Sales Closing Deadline March 15

Do you have changes to your policy? Increasing your

level of coverage? Do you want to add options?

It is important to share with us any changes to your farming

operation i.e. irrigation added, land added, NBG, expanding

to a new county, acres emerging from CRP, adding a crop,

etc. If you have any changes to your entity i.e. death of an

SBI, did you get married, have name change, etc. Please

let us know by March 15! Failure to inform us of any

changes may put your insurance coverage in jeopardy.

* SBI = Person of Substantial Beneficial Interest in your farming operation

2016 Crop Insurance Options

Insure Irrigated / Non-Irrigated at Different Levels

Trend Adjustment (TA)

Yield Exclusion (YE)

Added Price Option (APO)

Whole Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP)

Beginning Farmers & Ranchers Benefits (BFR)

Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO)

Report your Planted Acres to King Crop not FSA

See inside for details for Crop Insurance Options

Final Price Discovery from CBOT

Client Portal Do you know you can view

your policy, acreage reports, APH,

Schedule of Insurance, etc. online? Go

to RCIS.com and register, once ap-

proved you will have the ability to view

all your policy documents online.

We had lots of fun

taking “selfies” at

Delaware Ag Week.

Check our Facebook

page to see you if

were ambushed.

TA - Trend

Adjustment

Trend Adjustment (TA) adjust yields in APH data-bases to reflect increases in yield through time in the county. Trend adjust-ments are made on each eligible yield with a quali-fying APH database based on the county’s historical yield trend. The RMA ac-tuarial documents provide the historical yield trend. The approved APH yield is calculated using trend adjusted yields and any other applicable yields with the APH database.

Insured must be in an eligible county and have at least one APH database with an actu-al yield in one of the four most recent crop years

Option must be made by SCD, September 30

Not available on CAT

TA will remain as a continuous election until the insured ter-minates by SCD

TA applies to actual yields only in a APH database. Added Land, New Crop, New Practice yields do not apply when calculat-ing the adjustment

Call today for a quote!

SCO Supplemental Coverage Option

SCO is an option to buy county insurance to cover yield or reve-nue loss between 86% and the level of coverage chosen on your crop insurance policy. This pro-gram is 65% subsidized and is available crop by crop.

If you choose the ARC program with the FSA SCO is not an availa-ble option however, you may choose SCO if you elected PLC.

Irrigated vs Non-Irrigated Levels The 2014 Farm bill introduced the availabil-

ity to insure Enterprise Units (EU) by irri-

gated (IRR) and non-irrigated (NIRR) at

different levels of coverage. The ad-

vantages of electing different levels of cov-

erage allows you to separate your risk as-

sociated with IRR and NIRR, results in

premium discounts proportionate to risk

insured and prevents low losses in one

practice offsetting losses in the other prac-

tice. You must elect EU level of coverage

by practice by the sales closing date

(March 15).

To qualify for EU by practice you must

maintain your IRR and NIRR records sep-

arately and each practice must meet the

EU qualifications. Qualifications for EU

requires the crops to be planted on two

farm serial numbers (FSN) and at least

the lesser of 20% or 20 acres (20/20

rule) on the FSN’s of the total planted

acres. This qualifier is required for both

IRR and NIRR. Keeping separate IRR and

NIRR production records are imperative to

this policy. A physical visible break be-

tween the two practices must but be estab-

lished at the time of planting or you may

choose to plant the crop in a different pat-

tern or with another crop. Precision farm-

ing and yield monitoring systems may be

used if they are calibrated to the manufac-

ture’s specifications and if the farm, field

ID, crop acres, total yield, harvest date,

producer and crop year is identified on a

yield map or summary report.

When you are reporting your acres at acre-

age reporting time (July15) you must rec-

ord your IRR and NIRR as separate line

items. If neither of the practices qualify for

EU the level will be converted to Optional

Units (OU). This could be a costly error so

be sure your planting is methodically

planned.

You may also elect Optional Units (OU) by

practice and all record keeping require-

ments will apply for OU with the exception

of the 20/20 rule and you must keep all

records separated by practice.

CAT coverage cannot be selected as a

different coverage level by practice for EU

or OU.

Yield Exclusion (YE) allows the exclusion

of actual yields for a certain crop year

(years determined by RMA) when the crop

year is at least 50 percent below the simple

average. When a crop year is determined

to be eligible for YE for a crop in a county

the insureds contiguous counties will also

be eligible to exclude yields for that crop.

The insured may opt not to exclude a yield

for a eligible year.

You must elect YE by the Sales Closing,

March 15

APH Yield Exclusion-YE

Added Price Option (APO)

You put a lot of effort into increasing

your yield why not add to the dollar val-

ue per bushel? APO allows you to buy

up the projected price per bushel of

corn and soybeans. Just pick an added

bushel per price within a range over

your current MPCI price election and

get paid when bushels fall short of your

yield guarantee.

WFRP Whole Farm Revenue Protection

• WFRP is federally-reinsured insurance product that provides a risk manage-ment safety net for all commodities on the farm under one insurance policy

This plan is tailored for any farm with up to $8.5 million in insured revenue, including farm with specialty and/or organic commodities or those mar-keting to local, regional, farm-identity preserved, specialty or direct markets

THE BASICS: WFRP protects your farm against loss of farm revenue that you expect to earn from the following:

Commodities you produce during the insurance period, whether they are sold or not

Commodities you buy for resale during the insurance period

All commodities except timber, forest and forest products, animals for sport, show or pets and poultry houses

You will need to provide five years of your Schedule F (2010-2014), your intended commodities for 2016 and current invento-ry of commodities contracted and/or sold on hand.

Call Today for a Quote Sales Closing March 15

In 1967, two families united all because of crop insurance. Alice and Sam Beattie and Cathe-rine and Reese King first met at a training meeting and instantly became lifelong friends. Through the common goal of servicing and providing crop insurance for the first time on the Delmarva Alice and Catherine fought for the program and Delmarva farmers for 42 years. They worked as a team traveling to meetings, at-tending conventions, writing letters and making phone calls as supporters and adversaries regarding changes and issues facing the crop insurance program. During the earlier years, crop insur-ance was offered on an “Area Plan” (land was under a certain area the bushel guarantee was based on area yield). I remember the excitement Alice and Catherine shared when the program moved to farmer’s Actual Production History (APH). They were excited there was a better plan to offer farmers. Explaining and administrating the program was simpler in the earlier days, no computers, three part carbon paper forms and fewer crops to in-sure. As the program moved into the private sector in the 1980’s Alice and Catherine embraced the changes and always put the farmer first. They always were thinking how changes would affect their farmers and voiced concerns. That was their “call to duty”! They believed a viable safety net was good for farmers and good for our national and international food supply. In the Agriculture Risk Protection Act of 2000 more options be-

came available with “Revenue Plans”. Again, I can remember the two ladies excitement as they knew the program was moving for-ward and in the right direction. They knew farmers needed and were happy options were on the table to fit their farming operation needs. I feel the same excitement with the changes the 2014 Farm Bill offered in the program. As we go into our second year into the farm bill, you have more options today than ever. Make sure you review all your options feasible for your operation before sales closing deadline (March 15). Today, as in the earlier days, crop insurance will always be scruti-nized by our naïve lawmakers and special interest groups. It has been and always will be important for you and I to educate the lawmakers, special interest groups and the general public how crop Insurance works… in bad and good years! Crop Insurance is the best safety net to help with the unpredictability of Mother Nature and the volatile trading market. Alice and Catherine taught me “how to stand up for our farmers”, a lega-cy that continues today with my sis-ters and staff at King Crop. I feel privileged to have your trust and confidence in King Crop Insurance to assist you with your crop insurance needs.

Jackie’s Corner

Less than 3% crop insurance expenditure can help protect 97% of total costs

Crop Budget

97% of Your Crop Budget:

- Seed - Fertilizer - Pesticides - Drying - Rent/Mortgage - Storage - Equipment - Irrigation - Utilities - Labor - Fuel and Oil

- Management - Financial

Reduce risks and protect your crop investment with King Crop Insurance!

< 3% Crop Insurance

Double Cropping Update In October, RMA finally addressed the inquiries they have been receiving from farmers, crop insurance agents, and others asking for revisions to the crop insurance policy provisions regarding double cropping by requesting comments on possible changes to the provision. RMA also received requests to revise the definition of “practical to replant.” King Crop has been advocating for dou-ble cropping changes for the last three or four years. The provi-sion is not fair to farmers and it needs to be changed. We were pleased to get the opportunity to have comments submitted di-rectly to RMA. Our suggestion is to “revise the provision to in-clude full coverage on both crops in a double cropping situation if an independent agricultural expert certifies that a particular crop combination is a recognized good practice in the county.” We were able to submit over 200 letters to RMA signed by farm-ers. The letters addressed RMA’s proposed changes and also included the recommendation to eliminate double cropping re-quirements altogether. We may not get what we want but we wanted to make sure the voices of Delmarva farmers were heard. We double crop in this region. We are not Midwest farmers who plant one or two crops. The farmer should have full coverage on both crops. We have the growing season and the double crop-ping history here. Our farmers need the extra crop to keep their farming operations profitable. To see the proposed changes in the manager’s bulleting, go to the RMA Website and search MGR-15-007.

“One Stop Shop”

For Your Convenience

Reporting Acres to King Crop

Something new is being offered for the 2016 Spring Crop Reporting. You can choose to report your acreage at one location – to your crop insurance agent or to FSA. The data will be shared electronically between the agent and FSA. You can visit our office first when reporting your planted acres and we will enter the acres through our mapping system then the data will be uploaded to the FSA office. And, if you can’t get to our office, we will come to you! The goal of the Acreage Crop Reporting Streamlining Initiative (ACRSI) is to simplify acreage reporting for the farmer. The “one stop shopping” acreage reporting will showcase our mapping strength and demonstrate our ability to collect acreage reporting data accurately and efficiently. You will still be required to sign acreage reports with us and the FSA office but once we have completed the entry in our system, FSA will be able to pull the data collected and provide you with a FSA producer report for you to sign. As you know accurate acreage reporting is critical your crop insurance. We want you reporting only those acres you have planted. Planting monitor records can provide accurate planted acres. The crop insurance premium is based on planted acres and it is important to your wallet that you are only paying premium on planted acres. The 2014 Farm Bill required the implementation of ACRSI so that farmers and their crop insurance agents can either electronically or conventionally share common land unit data, related farm level data, and other information. Lawmakers expect USDA to make improvements as quickly as possible but it has been difficult to replace aging 1980’s style computers at the over 2,200 FSA offic-es across the country. Although the government technology has been lagging behind, the private sector has been moving forward at a quick pace to move farming data electronically. Sometime in the future, all farmers will be able to use precision technology to collect all the data used in their farming operations and electroni-cally send this information to their crop insurance agent or FSA office for collection by the Risk Management Agency (RMA).

Alice Standing on far right and Catherine sitting on far right, approximately 1980

Contact Us King Crop Insurance, Inc.

101 W Market Street

Georgetown, DE 19947

302.855.0800

agents@kingcrop.com

www.kingcrop.com

King Crop Farmer Meetings

Feb 22 - 10:15 Laurel Public Library

Feb 23 - 8:30 Smyrna Diner

Feb 24 - 8:30 Am Legion Harrington

Feb 25 - 9:30 Caroline Cty Library

King Crop Insurance, Inc.

101 W Market Street

Georgetown, DE 19947

Sales Closing

Deadline

Mar 15

2015 Crops Production Reporting

Spring Crop Production

In order to provide a accurate and up to

date quote it is necessary to have your

2016 crop production reports entered at

the time of the quote. If you have not

already provided us with your 2015 pro-

duction please attempt to do so for an

accurate assessment and projection for

your 2016 crops.

Wheat/Barley Cover Crop

If your intension is to plant wheat and/or bar-

ley as cover crop and decide to harvest it, it is

important to keep the production separate

from any acres reported as grain. It is imper-

ative the production is not commingled with

production from insured acres.

DO NOT DESTROY ANY INSURED

ACRES BEFORE CONTACTING US!