08/14/06 Insurance for pasture and rangeland

American Rancher August 14, 2006 The USDA's Risk Management Agency recently announced the approval of two new pilot programs that will give livestock producers the ability to purchase insurance protection for losses of forage used for grazing or harvested for hay. Paul: "This is the first time you have had this available anywhere in the United States." That's Dave Paul of the regional Risk Management office in Spokane who says several counties in Idaho will be part of the Rainfall index pilot program and several counties in Oregon part of the Vegetation index pilot insurance program for 2007. Paul says the programs are designed to provide maximum flexibility for producers. Paul: "For instance they are not required to insure all their acres. They can elect to insure only those acres that are important to their grazing program or their hay program. They are not required to insure the acreage for the entire crop year. The crop year is divided is divided into several intervals depending upon which pilot you are in. And then the producer can elect to insure for only those intervals where the risk is the greatest." Both of the pilot products will be available for sale from crop insurance agents beginning in late August. Paul says the sales closing date for both pilots is November 30th of this year for the 2007 crop year. More information is available on the RMA website. http://www.rma.usda.gov/policies/pasturerangeforage/ I'm Bob Hoff. Participating Idaho and Oregon counties Rainfall Index Idaho: Bannock, Bear Lake, Bingham, Bonneville, Caribou, Cassia, Franklin, Gooding, Jefferson, Jerome, Madison, Oneida, Owyhee, Power, and Twin Falls counties. Vegetation Index Oregon: Baker, Crook, Grant, Harney, Lake, Malheur, Union, Wallowa, and Wheeler counties.