Policyholder
Responsibilities

Find guidelines and responsibilities for your crop insurance policy.

Production Reporting

  • Report accurate total production by unit.
  • Production must be kept separate by unit.
  • Report production for all uninsurable/uninsured acres.
  • Do not commingle storage of production from different units, unless federal guidelines are followed.
  • Sign reporting form, Anti-Rebating Certification and Privacy Act statement.
  • Have acceptable production records that support the production and yields you are reporting on the production report by unit.

    NOTE:
    Acceptable production records include but are not limited to: settlement sheets, farm-stored production/bin measurements, appraisals, commercial storage records, precision farming data and grain carts (providing they show accurate information). These records must be maintained for three years for verification in case of an APH audit by your insurance company or the Risk Management Agency (RMA). When production and acres are not reported accurately, there can be consequences to your APH database. For example, you could receive assigned yields on all databases for the crop in the county, reduce your coverage and liability, owe additional premium, receive an overpayment of a claim or not qualify for an indemnity payment.

Acreage Reporting

  • Report correct acres by crop, practice and field location ID. Errors or missed reporting could lead to lower or no loss payments at all.
  • Report the correct planting date the day the unit was finished being planted, when planted before final planting date. Crops planted after final planting date must be reported separately, by plant date.
  • Report accurate percentage of share on each unit. Errors or missed reporting could lead to lower or no loss payments at all.
  • Report all acres. Be sure to include prevented planting, uninsurable/uninsured and late-planted acres.
  • Sign reporting form, Anti-Rebating Certification and Privacy Act statement.

Production Recordkeeping

  • Hard records, such as assembly sheets, bin measurements, qualifying precision farming records, etc., are used for loss purposes.
  • Soft records include weigh tickets, feed records, weigh-wagon slips and yield monitors, and can be used for yield-history purposes (but not for loss purposes).
  • If bin measurements are used, call your FCSAmerica crop insurance officer for more information.
  • If you feed to livestock, have a field appraisal done, regardless of whether or not there is a loss.
  • Have acceptable production records that support what you have reported on your policy.
  • Retain records for three years for verification in case of an audit.

    NOTE:
    If an audit is completed on your policy and you are unable to provide acceptable production records or the production records do not support the information that was reported, corrections may be made that could result in assigned yields, additional premium due, or an overpayment of a claim.

Precision Farming

  • Precision Data – Precision Reporting
    • Increase the accuracy and integrity of your acreage reports – plus save time and money – by using data from your precision farming equipment.
    • No matter which equipment you use, simply transfer your data to your FCSAmerica crop insurance team and the information will be processed to create the reports needed to file with your insurance company.
    • You’ll receive completed forms to verify and sign. All communication can be done remotely, and it may save time in getting claims approved.
    • Talk to your crop insurance officer for more information.
  • Precision Farming Technology Recordkeeping
    • For farmers in a reporting, claim or audit situation, the following applies to precision farming data:
      • Records may be acceptable if using precision farming technology from planting through harvest.
      • GPS technology must be integrated with planter monitors, combine monitors and yield mapping software.
      • Must have capability to produce summary records that reflect planted and harvested acres, and harvested production.
      • Calibration reports performed per manufacturer requirements.
    • Discuss precision farming technology with your crop insurance officer.
  • Additional planting and harvest records may be required if the insurance company questions the precision farming technology data.

Claims Reporting

  • Call your FCSAmerica office to report a loss, potential loss, replant, or before you chop or do anything other than harvest the crop.
  • In case of damage or loss of production or revenue to any insured crop, you must protect the crop from further damage by providing sufficient care.
  • For a planted crop, when there is damage or loss of production, you must give us notice, by unit, within 72 hours of your initial discovery of damage or loss of production (but not later than 15 days after the end of the insurance period, even if you have not harvested the crop).
  • For crops for which Revenue Protection is elected, if there is no damage or loss of production, you must give us notice no later than 45 days after the latest date the Harvest Price is released for any crop in the unit where there is a revenue loss.
  • The end of the insurance period is defined as the earliest of the following:
    1. Total destruction of the crop.
    2. Harvest of the unit.
    3. Final adjustment of a loss on a unit.
    4. Calendar date in the Crop Provisions for the end of the insurance period.
    5. Abandonment of the crop on the unit.
    6. Or, as otherwise specified in the Crop Provisions.
  • The loss paperwork completed with the adjuster is the Claim for Indemnity. It must be submitted no later than 60 days after the end of the insurance period. Your policy requires potential aflatoxin losses to be adjusted in the field — it is too late once the crop is harvested and in the bin.

Prevented Planting Guidelines

  • Prevented planting claims must be submitted within 72 hours of the final planting date for the crop.
  • Acres replanted must be at least 20 acres or 20% of the unit to qualify for a replant payment.
  • Once an acreage report is submitted, you cannot make revisions to change the prevented planting acres to a different crop.
  • Other rules apply; visit Prevent, Replant and Late Planting for more details or contact your FCSAmerica office.

Replanting Guidelines

  • Acres replanted must be at least 20 acres or 20% of the unit to qualify for a replant payment.
  • If you qualify for a replant, your payment will be calculated as follows:
    • Corn replant = 8 bushels of corn times the Projected Price multiplied by share in the crop and acres.
    • Soybean replant = 3 bushels of soybeans times the Projected Price multiplied by share in the crop and acres.
  • Replant payments are not applied to outstanding premium.
  • Other rules apply; visit Prevent, Replant and Late Planting for more details or contact your FCSAmerica office.

Late Planting Guidelines

Silage Guidelines

  • You cannot chop over 50% of your corn unit for silage until an adjuster appraises it, regardless of whether or not there is a loss.
  • In a no loss situation, if you chop less than 50% of the unit, you can convert the remaining yield to grain for APH purposes.
  • For RP, crops must be appraised or strips left to harvest or chop for silage (potential for revenue loss).

Pivot Corner Guidelines

  • Follow federal guidelines for optional units.
    • All corners need to be broken out per pivot.
    • Clear and discernable break from irrigated unit.
    • Break may occur up until the acreage reporting date (discing, cultivating, mowing, etc. does qualify).
    • Keep production separate.
    • Contact your FCSAmerica crop insurance officer prior to the production reporting date to see if you qualify for optional units.
  • Best options.
    • Plant field to a different crop.
    • Plant the same crop in a different row direction.
    • Include corners with the irrigated unit.

Cover Crop Guidelines

  • Cover crop termination guidelines provide information on termination of cover crops on non-irrigated cropland.
  • They were created by NRCS, RMA and FSA, and other public and private stakeholders to address concerns about the impact of cover crops on crop insurance. Click to view the cover crop termination guidelines.

Ready to Talk?

Contact us if you have questions or need more information. Fill out the form, or connect with your local office using the Office Locator.

FCSAmerica serves farmers, ranchers, agribusinesses and rural residents in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming. For inquiries outside this geography, use the Farm Credit Association Locator  to contact your local office.