Proposed ESA Listing & Coverage Availability

Proposed ESA Listing & Coverage Availability

I’m Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently proposed listing the yellow-billed cuckoo as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act in the western United States, Canada, and Mexico.  The western yellow-billed cuckoo occurs in many western states including Washington.  According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, their nesting habitat along rivers and streams has been declining over the last few decades. Public comment on the proposed listing will be accepted online at regulations.gov through December 2. 

Risk Management Specialist, Jo Lynne Seufer, says the USDA’s Risk Management Agency has announced new coverage availability for tart cherries and table grapes.

SEUFER: We’re really excited about the tart cherry, particularly for processing, expansion into Adams, Franklin and Grant counties. And then our table grape crop insurance is in a completely new expansion. We currently only have it available in Canyon County, Idaho. But all of these crops, if there is a producer of table grapes in Yakima county, they can now get a written agreement crop insurance policy. What this does is really expand the opportunity for producers to have a risk management tool for these new crops up here in the Pacific Northwest.

Seufer would also remind fruit producers of the November 20th sales closing date for apple, blueberry, sweet and tart cherry actual revenue history, cranberry, grape, pear, table grape, and stone-fruit crops. Producers should contact their local crop insurance agent for more information.

That’s Washington Ag Today.

I’m Lacy Gray on the Ag Information Network.