U.S. Department of Agriculture numbers show Ohio farmers have been hit with the state’s worse weather-prevented planting season on record in 2019.
The Columbus Dispatch reports that Ohio had the highest rate nationally of acreage on which insured farmers were prevented from planting because of weather. The data shows Ohio’s 15.1% rate was followed by Arkansas, Michigan and Mississippi.
More Ohio farmers were unable to plant this year and forced to collect on insurance than in any other year since the USDA began keeping prevented-planning records in 2007. Prevented planting provisions in insurance policies can provide valuable coverage when extreme weather conditions prevent expected plantings.
What is Prevented Planting?
Prevented planting is a failure to plant an insured crop with the proper equipment by the final planting date designated in the insurance policy’s Special Provisions or during the late planting period, if applicable. Final planting dates and late planting periods vary by crop and by area. Prevented planting coverage is available for most crops and covers insurable causes of loss such as floods, hurricanes, or excess precipitation that occurs during the insurance period and prevents other producers from planting too.
Farmers have to notify their insurance agent within 72 hours after the final planting date in order to make a claim if they were unable to plant.
2019 Data
On December 1, 2019, FSA released an updated crop acreage data report showing that 19.61 million acres were filed prevented from planting. Additionally, as of January 6, 2020, RMA has paid roughly $4.28 billion in claims for prevented planting, of which $4 billion was due to floods and excess moisture. There are more than 1.5 million acres in Ohio that normally would be planted with crops that are lying fallow this year.
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