What’s Changing

Forage producers now have more options for protection. Beginning with the 2027 crop year, you can insure against more than a loss in production. The new plans can also guard against price declines due to market changes. In eligible counties, these options can replace the traditional Actual Production History (APH) plan, bringing forage coverage in line with other Federal crop insurance revenue programs like those for corn and soybeans.

Forage Production has historically been a yield-only product. If you grew a full crop but hay prices collapsed, your policy did not provide protection. The new plan options change that. Your coverage can now be based on revenue.

A bad market can trigger a payment just like a bad stand can.

Your Three Plan Options

In eligible counties, you elect your plan of insurance by the sales closing date, as specified in the Special Provisions, and it applies to all your insured forage.

Yield Protection (YP)

Pays when your production falls short of your guarantee.

✓ Covers yield loss
✗ Does not cover price decline
✗ Guarantee does not rise with the market

Revenue Protection (RP)

Covers lost revenue from a yield loss, a price decline, or a yield loss at higher prices.

✓ Covers yield loss
✓ Covers price decline
✓ Guarantee can rise with the market

RP with Harvest Price Exclusion (RP-HPE)

Covers lost revenue from a yield loss, a harvest price below the projected price, or both.

✓ Covers yield loss
✓ Covers price decline
✗ Guarantee does not rise with the market

THE BASICS AT A GLANCE

  • Three plans to choose from. YP, RP, and RP-HPE replace APH coverage in eligible counties. You pick one for all your forage.
  • New for crop year 2027. Revenue protection is available for Forage Production for the first time.
  • 12 eligible states. Select counties in CA, ID, IA, MI, MN, MT, NE, ND, PA, SD, WA, and WI.
  • Protection from price swings. Under revenue protection, a drop in the harvest price below the projected price is a covered cause of loss.
  • September 30 deadline. The sales closing date to elect your plan for the crop year.
  • APH still available elsewhere. The existing APH-based program continues in all other states where it is currently offered.

What Qualifies as Insurable Forage

Planted perennial alfalfa, perennial red clover, perennial grasses, or a mixture of these species. Talk to a PRM Risk Management Advisor for a full eligible crop list. To be insurable, your stand must:

  • Have an adequate stand, certified on a forage production underwriting report before insurance attaches
  • Be past its year of establishment (seeding-year coverage may be available under a separate Forage Seeding policy)
  • Not be grazed or grown with the intent to be grazed, and not grown with a non-forage crop
  • Be within the stand age limits shown in the Special Provisions

How the Plans Work

The Guarantee

Your guarantee is your insured acres, times your per-acre production guarantee in tons, times your plan’s price. Separate guarantees are determined by forage type, and your loss is figured on a unit basis.

Acres x Tons x Projected Price

The Price

YP and RP use a projected price set from commodity exchange prices. Under RP, your harvested production is valued at the harvest price. When the market falls, less of your guarantee is met, and your payment grows. Under APH, your own price election applies.

Side-by-Side Example: YP vs. RP

100 acres of forage, 100% share. A 3.0-ton guarantee, a $240/ton projected price, a $200/ton harvest price, and 50 tons harvested.

Step 1: Your Guarantee

100 acres x 3.0 tons x $240 projected price. The same for both plans: $72,000

Step 2: Value the Harvest

A bad harvest cuts you to 50 tons produced and the market price drops. YP values production at the $240 projected price. RP values it at the $200 harvest price.

  • YP: 50 x $240 = $12,000
  • RP: 50 x $200 = $10,000

Step 3: The Indemnity

Guarantee minus the value of your production to count.

  • YP: $60,000
  • RP: $62,000

THE RP DIFFERENCE

When the market dropped $40/ton, RP pays $2,000 more on the identical yield loss. If prices had held, both plans would pay the same. If prices rise, RP’s guarantee can rise with them.

The Fine Print That Matters

Covered Causes of Loss

  • Adverse weather conditions, fire, wildlife, earthquake, and volcanic eruption
  • Insects and plant disease (but not damage from insufficient or improper control measures)
  • Failure of the irrigation water supply, if caused by an insured peril
  • New for revenue protection: a change in the harvest price from the projected price

Not covered: damage or loss after harvest. Late and prevented planting provisions do not apply.

Policy Rules to Know

Coverage by the cutting. Insurance ends when forage is removed from the windrow or field. Report total production from all cuttings for each unit by the production reporting date.

Grazing ends coverage. Grazed forage is never counted as harvested. Insurance ends the date grazing begins.

Measured in air-dry tons. Forage under 13% moisture is adjusted to its air-dry equivalent. A ton is 2,000 pounds.

Unit options. Optional, Basic, and Enterprise Units. Irrigated and Non-Irrigated, Conventional and Organic practices.

Give Timely Notice

Missing a notice deadline can mean your production is appraised at no less than your full guarantee.

3 days

after the date cutting should have started, if the crop won’t be harvested

15 days

before harvesting any production that will be direct marketed

15 days

before harvest begins, if you intend to claim an indemnity on a unit

5 days

before grazing of insured forage begins, so production can be appraised

Mark Your Calendar: September 30

Enrollment for the crop year closes on the sales closing date, September 30, earlier than you might expect. Talk to a PRM Risk Management Advisor early. Your plan election applies to all your forage. Call (605) 271-7996 or request a quote today.