Crop Insurance in Central Valley and Central Coast, CA
Keep Your Farm Afloat in Times of Trouble.
The farming and agricultural industry often involves risk and uncertainty. From unexpected natural disasters to major economic changes in the marketplace, many situations can affect the productivity of your agribusiness.
At Mitchell Insurance Services, we know that the success of your farm directly impacts the livelihood of you and your family. With the right Crop Insurance coverage, you can protect your business and keep your farm afloat through all of the difficult times.
Crop insurance policies protect 380 million acres of land in the United States, which is more than 90% of insurable farmland. The program provides hundreds of millions of dollars in indemnity payments to farmers each week. While crop insurance was originally available for major crops—such as corn, cotton and wheat—it now offers unique coverage on 130 different crops, including most fruits and vegetables.
Crop insurance availability has taken off in the past 25 years for good reason. Today’s farmers must turn out more products and achieve higher yields than ever before to stay in business. For that reason, there are several reasons to carefully consider investing in crop insurance—or if you already have it, re-evaluating your current coverage. Contact Mitchell Insurance Services to learn more about your insurance options.
Mitchell Insurance Services offers two basic types of Crop Insurance for your farm or ranch:
- Crop-yield insurance covers excess losses to your crops due to natural disasters such as drought or flood as well as other perils like insects or disease.
- Crop-revenue insurance covers negative changes in the price of a crop that occurs during the crop’s growing season.
Mitchell Insurance Services offers a full line of crop insurance, whole farm revenue protection programs, and non-traditional risk management programs. Below please find a partial listing of some of the programs that are available from both the Federal and private sectors:
Whole Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP)
The adjusted gross revenue program is a FCIC subsidized, nontraditional, whole farm risk management tool. The WFRP concept uses a producers historical Schedule F tax information as a base to provide a level of guaranteed revenue for the entire farm during the insurance period. The premium is based on your guaranteed revenue for the entire farm during the insurance and on your average qualified revenue as shown on the income tax forms "Schedule F" for the past five years.
Multi-Peril Crop Insurance (MPCI)
This broad coverage product insures the grower's crops from a wide range of perils such as hail, heat damage, wind damage, flod, insect and plant disease damage (if uncontrollable while using standard pest management practices). MPCI uses the crop's Actual Production History (APH) as a base, allowing the grower to select a level of participation above the 50% level of production.
Actual Revenue History (ARH)
Actual Revenue History based MPCI crop insurance programs provide growers with a dollar insurance guarantee protecting against insurable causes of loss from weather related events and from reduction in revenue from market related conditions as well.
Non-Insured Assistance Program (NAP)
The Farm Service Agency offers this program to insure crops that are not insurable through standard crop insurance programs. Kiwi's, Asian Pears, Onions, Pomegranates, Persimmons, and vegetable crops are just a few of the crops insurable under NAP.
Named Peril Insurance Programs
Named Peril Citrus Freeze covers citrus crops for the peril of frost, which can be added on to standard MPCI programs for additional protection.
Named Peril Grape Cluster Freeze covers grapes from the peril of frost. This policy can be secured in conjunction with the grape growers MPCI policy for additional protection.
Raisin Reconditioning supplies the raisin grower with extra coverage for reconditioning and extra field expense.
Cherry Rain supplies the cherry grower with extra coverage for the peril of rain.
Packing House Business Interruption insures citrus packing house operations in the event a catastrophic frost occurs which will limit the amount of fruit they can pack. This basis of this policy is on the packing houses past production of packed cartons.
You’ve poured years of hard labor and honest work into your agribusiness, and when times are tough, you’ll need an agency you can depend on. Talk to a specialist at Mitchell Insurance Services to learn more about how Crop Insurance can help ensure the continued service of your farm for years to come.
Non-Discrimination Statement:
In accordance with Federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, its Agencies, offices, and employees, and institutions participating in or administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity (including gender expression), sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, family/parental status, income derived from a public assistance program, political beliefs, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity, in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA (not all bases apply to all programs). Remedies and complaint filing deadlines vary by program or incident.
Why Do I Need Crop Insurance?
A single bad growing season can put farmers—especially new farmers without large cash reserves—out of business permanently. Drought, flooding, unusual weather patterns and pests can endanger crops and contribute to a low yield. But, crop insurance protects policyholders from such losses. Price decreases are generally also covered, so you’ll have a safety net if the price you receive for your crop goes down between planting and harvesting.
In addition to the financial protection of your crops, by having crop insurance, farmers can capitalize on other opportunities:
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Engage in long-term business planning due to stable cash flow
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Invest in the company’s future more easily since lenders know you can repay loans
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Access new technology and innovation, which can lead to even higher crop yields
Don’t dismiss crop insurance as a financial burden, but rather think of it as an investment. It gives assurance you will stay in business after a bad loss and creates the possibility of thriving well into the future.
How Do I Get Crop Insurance?
With all the money you invest into your farm fields—rent, seeds, fertilizer, labor and production costs—crop insurance gives you peace of mind knowing an unavoidable peril won’t bankrupt you. Insurance policies vary depending on factors such as type of crop and growing region.