Farm Horizons Farm Horizons 10/16 | Page 26

Farm Horizons • Oct. 10, 2016 The crop damage and harvest delays are especially difficult for affected crop producers who are facing very tight profit margins in 2016. Farm operators were looking at some very good corn and soybean yield potential for this year’s crops in many locations. The soybean yield potential appeared especially solid across the region, with the corn yield potential being a bit more variable. Many producers were put in a “wait and see” mode regarding corn and soybean harvest, hoping that the yields on a majority of the crop acres are strong enough, in order to offset yield losses in the fields and portions of fields that were lost to the heavy rains and flooding. Crop insurance considerations Farm operators with crop losses need to contact their crop insurance agent prior to harvesting fields with significant crop losses to make sure that those losses are reported and verified. Producers also need to keep good yield records, and follow crop insurance verification procedures, in order to maximize crop insurance indemnity payments on damaged crop acres. Crop insurance indemnity payments will vary from farm to farm, depending on Urgent C A R E health care. . . when you need it. Urgent Care Hours: Mon.-Thurs. 8 a.m.-7 p.m.; Fri. 8 a.m.-5 p.m.; & Sat. 9 a.m.-Noon 3 Century Ave. | Hutchinson, MN | 320-234-3290 | 800-944-2690 www.HutchHealth.com Equal Opportunity Employer • Page 26 the level and type of insurance coverage that was purchased for the 2016 crop year, and on the final 2016 corn and soybean yields. Producers facing significant crop losses that have “optional units” for crop insurance policies in 2016 could be in a position to collect considerable crop insurance indemnity payments on farm units with large losses. However, producers that have “enterprise units” for their 2016 crop insurance coverage may have more difficulty verifying sufficient crop losses to gain substantial indemnity payments for the 2016 crop year. “Optional units” insure crops on an individual farm basis, so a producer can collect crop insurance indemnity payments on one or two farm units, while not receiving payments on other farm units. “Enterprise units” require all the crop land of a given crop in a county to show a crop loss, in order to receive crop insurance indemnity payments. Many producers have switched from “optional units” to “enterprise units” in the past few years, due to significant savings in the crop insurance premium costs with “enterprise units.” n