Updates to the Annual Forage insurance for the 2020 crop year include a dual use option. 

The Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency says the 2018 Farm Bill includes a dual use option in select counties of six Great Plains states. 

 

Producers who select this option can insure their small grains crop with both an Annual Forage Policy for grazing and a multi-peril Small Grains Policy for grain. 

Risk Management Agency Administrator Martin Barbre says the changes “allow crop insurance to provide coverage and recognize a practice that farmers and ranchers have used for years in certain parts of the country.” 

 

The Dual Use Option is ideal for producers who plant a small grain by October 15, 2019, to use as a grazing crop over the winter and to harvest for grain the next summer. 

The option is available in counties where the Risk Management Agency considers “grain/graze” a good farming practice in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. 

 

Producers interested in Annual Forage should contact their local crop insurance agent or visit the RMA website for more information.