NATIVE AMERICANS COMING TOGETHER CARING FOR MOTHER EARTH
JIM CALLAN
Risk Management Agency Associate Administrator
Indian Agriculture Symposium
Hosted by Intertribal Agriculture Council
and the
Indian Nations Conservation Alliance
Las Vegas, NV
Dec 10, 2008
The 2008 Farm Bill that was passed by Congress this May contains several provisions for crop insurance
that may affect Indian producers. While none are specifically targeted to help
Indian producers, the provisions will make changes to existing policy.
The Risk Management Agency has published an Interim Final Rule for several of the provisions. The
definition of an organic crop and crop production on native sod and increases to the
Catastrophic Risk Protection policy fee are a couple of issues which come to
mind that might be of interest to producers here at this conference.
The definition of organic crops for crop insurance purposes will now be consistent with that of
the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990.
The CAT fee as it is commonly referred to will be raised from $100 per crop per county to $300 per
crop per county. This change will be in effect for the upcoming reinsurance year.
The “Sod Saver” provision is a little more complicated. It prohibits getting crop insurance on land
deemed “native sod” that has been tilled since the enactment of the Farm Bill for
five years in the prairie pothole region of the country. However, this will only go into effect if the
Governor of a state in the prairie pothole region elects to participate. If the
Governor chooses not to participate, the
land can usually be insured by working with the RMA regional office for the area.
Several pilot insurance programs and studies were included in the farm bill for RMA to do research on
and carry out. The new pilot programs required are for camelina, sesame seed
and grass seed.
RMA is also required to enter into research contracts on a number of other products including insurance
specifically for energy crops, aquaculture, poultry, bees, Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) policies for
beginning farmers and ranchers and enter into contracts to develop and improve the existing organic
insurance products RMA has to offer. RMA is aggressively pursuing all of these directives but
also must consider budget issues for some of the non-mandatory items.
Another provision Congress included in the Farm Bill to create budget savings is a change to the
premium billing date for insurance policies. The date will be moved up from October 1 to August 15 in the
2012 reinsurance year. This will affect every participant in our program.
Our agency is currently in discussions with FSA regarding an interpretation that every acre of a
commodity must
be insured in order for a producer to be eligible for SURE benefits.
We at RMA are concerned that this will result in growers being excluded from the SURE program or forced to
enroll in RMA’s Group Risk programs which do
not provide individual coverage, although we are making good progress.
The Farm Bill requires that the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation Board of Directors adopt new procedures
for the 508(h) process. The 508(h) process is how insurance products
developed by private individuals and organizations are reviewed and approved or disapproved to be offered as
risk
protection products for crops through the Federal crop insurance program.
The new draft procedures were presented to the Board of Directors at the September meeting. After
reviewing the draft procedures, the Board requested additional information from staff and is working to
finalize the procedures.
In other areas of our program, the Pasture, Rangeland and Forage pilot program has been expanded this year
and will continue to be expanded in the coming years as “pay-go” allows.
That is a budget neutral requirement that limits budget spending. I am pleased to say that this product has
been generally very well received by participants so far.
This innovative product comes in one of two forms to producers. The use of either a rainfall index or
vegetative index is the basis for how the policy functions. These two indices are then cross referenced
with area grids that allow us to assess whether an
indemnity is to be paid or not based on the producer’s coverage level.
The following states are scheduled to have PRF availability in some or all of their counties in 2009:
Colorado,
Oregon,
South Carolina,
Pennsylvania,
South Dakota,
North Dakota,
Oklahoma,
Idaho,
New York,
Alabama,
Montana,
Wyoming,
Texas,
Kansas,
Nebraska,
Missouri,
North Carolina, and
Virginia.
USDA’s Federal Crop Insurance Corporation Board of Directors has approved a Biotech Endorsement that is
commonly referred to as BE. This endorsement allows producers who plant seed corn with certain biotech
traits and fulfill a
set of criteria to enjoy a reduction in their crop insurance premiums.
To briefly describe the approved traits, they are generally known as seeds with “triple stacked” traits. Three companies have traits that qualify and the companies are Syngenta, Pioneer and Monsanto. For a full listing of
the traits you can consult the RMA website at http://www.rma.usda.gov
Currently, this pilot program is only available in certain states but if the pilot program is deemed
successful future expansion is expected. The following states have the program available for at least one
of the seeds contains the approved traits:
Non-Irrigated:
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin
Irrigated: Kansas and Nebraska
Farm Bill Actions Completed
Administrative Fee Final Rule published on 6/27/08
2009 Mandatory SRA Amendment received from all reinsured companies the week of June 30, 2008.
This addressed the new Administrative and Overhead (A&O) reimbursement amounts,
New Group Plans of Insurance A&O, new Catastrophic Coverage loss adjustment expense amount and new rebating
provisions.
Malting Barley Special Provision of Insurance published for early 2009 sales closing dates
(7 counties). This will be a continuing process with each new malting barley actuarial filing for
the 2009 crop year.
An Information Bulletin concerning the Controlled Business provisions of the Farm Bill was
issued to the reinsured companies on July 24, 2008.
Group Risk Plan subsidy changes were implemented via actuarial filing for the fall crops in June 2008.
This will be a continuing process with each new actuarial filling for 2009 crop programs.
IT funds have been obligated for FY 08.
IT funds have been obligated for FY 09.
On 10/21/08, RMA issued Bulletin PM-08-057 providing the new subsidy rates for Enterprise Units
and Whole Farm Units. This will be a continuous process with the new rates being issued via the Actuarial
Filings beginning with spring 2009 crops.
Interim Final Rule published on November 24, 2008 for the following:
Organic Crop Definition
Farm Stored Production
Crop Production on Native Sod
Removal of PRP Authority
Mediation
Strengthening and Maintaining Relationships with Tribal Nations in Arizona,
Utah and Nevada:
The Davis regional office has worked and
is currently working with the following tribes in Arizona and partners:
Tohono O’odham,
San Carlos Apache
Navajo Nation
Hopi Nation
Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT)
Gila River
San Carlos Apache
University of Arizona
Southwest Tribal Strategies
Dine be iina,Inc.
Dine Inc.
Hopi Foundation
The Davis Regional office has held two grant writing workshops in Arizona targeting Native Americans.
The
workshop brought in
over 75 participants representing different tribes from UT, NV, and AZ. The purpose was to increase
the number of applicants for all USDA funding opportunities available, especially RMA. RMA brought in
an instructor knowledgeable with all USDA grants who explained where to find, how to apply, and who to
contact for funding information.
The Davis RO held several tax workshops for ranchers and farmers on the Hopi and Navajo reservations
for since 2006. With the introduction of the AGR insurance program, the Davis RO wanted to make sure that
Native Americans were aware of the program and eligible to participate.
A Davis regional office employee with accounting background was able to provide training and
explained the tax process and the advantages in filing a Schedule F.
Powerpoint Presentation (PDF)
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