On Thursday September 27, USDA announced that producers with eligible Prevented Planting (PP) claims from the spring of 2019 will receive an additional ‘Top-Up’ payment of 10 to 15% depending on the type of coverage they had. There is no need to apply as the payments will be automatically issued by check from your insurance company starting in mid-October. The payments are being delivered as part of the 2019 Disaster Relief Act.

Those producers with Yield Protection (YP) or Revenue Protection with Harvest Price Exclusion (RP-HPE) will receive an additional 10%  of their prevented planting indemnity (not of your total MPCI guarantee). Producers who have Revenue Protection (RP) elected will receive an additional 15%. Please see the calculation example below.

One thing to note is that producers who accept payment are required to purchase crop insurance for the crop in the county for the next two crop years. Failure to do so will require the producer to refund all payments for the crop in that county with interest. Additional links are provided below with the USDA press release as well as Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). If you have any questions please give us a call!

EXAMPLE
Corn APH = 150 bushels/acre
MPCI Coverage Level = 75% RP
PP Coverage = 55%
Spring Price = $4.00
Indemnity Per Acre = 150 x $4 x 75% x 55% = $247.50/acre
‘Top-Up’ Payment = 15% x $247.50 = $37.13/acre

USDA PRESS RELEASE

https://www.rma.usda.gov/News-Room/Press/Press-Releases/2019-News/Producers-to-Receive-Automatic-Prevented-Planting-Top-Up-Payments

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

https://www.rma.usda.gov/en/News-Room/Frequently-Asked-Questions/Prevented-Planting-Disaster-Payments