Risk Managmen Agency Prepares for Crop Insurance Expansion

With new and expanded crop insurance products on the horizon, that means a Risk Management Agency has to prepare now. RMA administrator, Marcia Bunger.

“We are required by law to make these contract changes by a certain date before the next sales season, we're making a contract now with our partners, the approved insurance providers, and they have to have time to make their necessary changes to their software systems and make sure that those crops that now have had this expanded opportunity, that that software, that technology, is available for their crop insurance agents when they go to quote the different ways that you can cover. And so that's why we have to do it fairly early. I think also it's an opportunity for crop insurance agents to start talking about that now, even though it's not applicable to this year's growing season, but to say, hey, guess what, RMA has now expanded the ability to have you either decide to go enterprise and optional, and so there's some education time that is built into this as well.”

Bunger says the expanded insurance will include options for specialty crop growers, including non-contiguous parcels of land. In addition, she says organic enterprises will also be included in crop insurance expansion changes starting in the 2025 crop year.