By: Chris Bruynis, PhD, Assistant Professor & Extension Educator, OSU Extension.
There is no doubt that crop insurance can be complicated to understand all the nuances surrounding making a claim. There are some common mistakes that producers make that can cost them money. Two of them that we are now seeing happening include:
- Harvesting the crop in a manner other than insured – If you are harvesting the insured crop in a manner other than intended without informing the crop insurance carrier and have a claim, you will have a problem. For example: the producer has insured his corn as grain, but harvest the corn as silage. If there is no actual harvested grain for the adjuster to measure, the crop must be field appraised for grain content before harvested. The adjuster cannot appraise the grain content of harvested corn silage and the production to count will be assessed at the full guarantee. No indemnity will be paid.
- Destroying the insured crop without the company’s approval – Production for a crop that is destroyed before the claim adjustment is made will be assessed at the full production guarantee and no indemnity will be paid
The rules also state that producers need to contact their crop insurance agent within 72 hours after they think they have a crop loss. With a hail storm or flood that call is pretty easy to make, however with the slow decline created by the summer drought, this is a bit more difficult. Even corn and beans that have had some drought and heat stress that still look decent will probably have a yield loss. Contacting the insurance agent now, if you have not already done so, is advised if you suspect any yield loss this year. Attached is a fact sheet, recently released by the USDA Risk Management Agency, that provides some good information for producers. Click here for USDA Risk Management Agency drought fact sheet.