By Tracy Sayler

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Prairie Grains is the official publication of
the Minnesota
Association of
Wheat Growers,
North Dakota Grain Growers Association,
South Dakota Wheat, Inc., and the Minnesota Barley Growers Association.

"Occasionally, people try to work the system. Each case is different. Sometimes a farmer can apply fertilizer to the crop and wet weather will wash it away. (Good farming practices) can be difficult to prove. We do the best we can," says Jo Sutter, who heads the RMA’s regional compliance office in St. Paul.

Good farming practices is defined in the 1999 crop insurance rule book as follows: "The cultural practices generally in use in the county for the crop to make normal progress toward maturity and produce at least the yield used to determine the production guarantee or amount of insurance, and are those recognized by the (Extension Service) as compatible with agronomic and weather conditions in the county."

The loss adjustment manual that adjusters used last year said that, "The contract does not cover any loss which is due to the insured’s failure to follow recognized good farming practices. Such farming practices vary by crops and by areas." Some of the more common uninsured causes of loss due to failure to follow recognized good farming practices include:

• Use of damaged, old, or unadapted seed.
• Failure to plant the recommended quantity of seed.
• Improper seedbed preparation.
• Failure to properly plant, care for, or harvest the insured crop.
• Failure to timely or properly apply control measures recommended by the local Extension Service for the control of insects, plant diseases, or weeds.

Other uninsured causes of loss are:
• Inability to obtain labor, seed, and machinery, repairs or pesticides.
• Breakdown of machinery or failure of equipment due to mechanical defects.
• Damage by domestic animals or poultry.
• The use of chemicals resulting in damage to the insured crop.
• Seeding another crop in a growing insured crop unless allowed by the crop policy.
• Neglect by the insured or by any person in the insured’s household connected with the farming operation.
• Theft of the crop.

To help evaluate loss claims, adjusters use comparable acreage: Other acreage nearby, planted to the same crop following the same farming practices and similar planting dates. When the insured doesn’t have comparable acreage, an adjuster will compare acreage from the nearest farms, use Farm Service Agency program yields, or Actual Production History yields on the insured’s farm. A yield loss that is out of the ordinary will raise a red flag with the RMA.

"Our office is in charge of program oversight, and that’s more than watching policy discrepancies among producers. There’s agents, companies, and adjusters," says Sutter. The RMA’s six regional compliance offices across the country review company delivery of crop insurance, including whether agents are properly trained, and dealing fairly with producers. The compliance offices also review the operation of new crop insurance programs.

The St. Paul compliance office reviews federal crop insurance delivery in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, and Wyoming. Only eight people oversee federal crop insurance compliance across this five-state area, however: Sutter says the compliance staff in the region should consist of 11 people, and three positions are currently vacant.