Hay Growers Is It Time To Consider Insurance?

Like wheat and other commodities, Washington Hay growers have seen prices drop dramatically. Steve Norberg WSU Hay Extension Specialist based n Pasco says it might be time to consider insurance

NORBERG: One thing that I would probably encourage producer to do that they probably haven’t done in the past is to look into Whole Farm Revenue Insurance for 2017. It would be ideal to have everything set up by December if possible so meeting in November with your insurance agent because all the commodity prices are down it’s not just Alfalfa and Timothy.

What should they ask for?

They have a product called Whole Farm Revenue Insurance, and I would encourage producers to at least take a look at that. With the probability of the hay prices continuing down considerably from years prior, they take a five year average and we had five good years so when you consider that, and they would pay at roughly 75 % for less than three commodities or up to as high as 85% for three commodities’ or more according to their definitions.

 

I mean they have to have it by March 15th, that’s the drop deadline but if there is a crop failure between January and March it would be better to have everything in place by December, get everything finalized by then.