The Federal Crop Insurance Program has been available for decades. It has been the primary platform to provide quality risk management to many of our country’s agricultural producers. Historically, the program aimed most of its resources at creating products to serve the most prevalent commodity crop industries, which are no doubt an important pillar of our agricultural framework. Until recently, specialized small farmers and specialty crop producers had inadequate access to policies as robust as those for commodity crops. Through the last two Farm Bills, that direction has began to shift!
Through the implementation of the Whole Farm Revenue Protection program (WFRP) in 2015, and enhancements to most specialty crop policies, producers have seen an increased quality and availability of subsidized federal crop insurance. The most recent of these coverage enhancements is the creation of the Micro Farm crop insurance policy, which is a style of WFRP.
Micro Farm crop insurance provides a revenue safety net for all commodities, and allowable value-added products, under one insurance policy. The 2022 policy is tailored for any farm with up to $100,000 in approved revenue, and was built to cover many styles, such as specialty, organic, regional, locally marketed, direct market and farm-identity preserved.
This policy is available in all 50 states and covers losses due to unavoidable natural causes that occur during the insurance period, meaning our diverse Michigan and Wisconsin small farmers who face Mother Nature anomalies thanks the Great Lakes now have a solution to help protect them! Coverage is available from 50-85% of the producers approved revenue. Sales close for the 2023 crop year is November 20, 2022 for late fiscal tax filers, and March 15, 2023 for calendar year or early fiscal tax filers.
Who would benefit from this policy?
A wide array of producers could benefit from the Micro Farm insurance policy. Because it covers both revenue from commodities, as well as revenue from value added products such as lotions from lavender, wine from grapes, or honey products from bees, Micro Farm can be utilized by many kinds of operations.
There are certain documents you must provide to your crop insurance specialist to get Whole-Farm Revenue Protection insurance.
- A Whole-Farm History Report with a minimum of 3 consecutive years of Schedule F or other farm tax forms (it must be possible to complete a Substitute Schedule F form if you filed farm tax forms other than Schedule F). For the 2022 policy year, tax forms from 2019-2021 are required.
- If you have not yet filed taxes for the most recent tax year, a Substitute Schedule F must be submitted for that year.
- If you are a tax-exempt entity (such as a Tribal entity) and have acceptable third-party records available, those can be used to complete Substitute Schedule F tax forms.
Visit www.rma.usda.gov/en/Fact-Sheets/National-Fact-Sheets/Micro-Farm-Program for more details.
GreenStone has a dedicated Fruit and Specialty Crop Insurance team of agents throughout Michigan and northeast Wisconsin who focus on policies such as the new Micro Farm. Having written 77% of the policies in our territory thus far, we are continuing to meet with more producers to educate them on this policy and its potential benefits to helping them manage risks that are outside of their control. We recognize the importance of having options available to farmers of all commodities, sizes and practices and to be able to consider this policy as another tool for those who didn’t have many crop insurance options historically. Through GreenStone’s CultivateGrowth program focused on providing support and solutions to assist young, beginning and small farmers, along with our commitment to Micro Farm education, we take pride in extending resources to help ensure the success of our smaller farmers, which help both our urban and rural communities thrive.
From insuring cut flowers, to blueberries and cherries, we have already seen positive results from the first year with Micro Farm policy available. This policy can be utilized for producers with urban gardens in Detroit or Green Bay, to rural farm stands in southwest Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. There is also potential for this to benefit small local livestock producers, roadside vegetable stands, lavender farms selling lotions and farm market farmers selling produce and baked goods.
GreenStone’s territory of Michigan and northeast Wisconsin is some of the most agriculturally diverse areas in our nation. We are committed to ensuring equal access for our customers to all of the products the USDA’s Risk Management Agency has in order to help build unparalleled risk management for our hard working farmers.
If you have any questions about the Micro Farm crop insurance policy, or others, please reach to your nearest GreenStone branch to find out more.
To view the article in the online 2022 Summer Partners Magazine, click here.
