Pa. producers can insure pastures

NEW CASTLE, Pa. – For 2007, USDA is offering Pennsylvania producers in selected counties a new pilot Group Risk Protection risk management program for pasture and/or hayland acreage.
The program was developed to let livestock and dairy producers purchase insurance protection for losses of forage produced for grazing and/or hay, due to negative precipitation variations.
The pilot program is based on rainfall indexes.
The Rainfall Index program will be tested in 17 southwestern Pa. counties (220 counties in U.S.). These products will use established NOAA tracking systems to determine weather variations that cause losses of forage production across diverse pasture and hay ground environments.
In southwestern Pennsylvania, the program is available in the following counties: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Cambria, Clarion, Clearfield, Fayette, Green, Indiana, Jefferson, Lawrence, Mercer, Somerset, Venango, Washington and Westmoreland.
Insure all or part. Producers can insure all or part of their of their pasture and/or hayland acreage, at varying amounts of protection and coverage levels (deductibles) for a few months or the entire year.
The amount of loss payment is determined, based on negative weather variation indexes, for each two-month period. No producer record keeping is required.
Learn more. Gene Gantz, crop insurance expert and educator from USDA’s Risk Management Agency, will explain this new program at a meeting Nov. 15 at Hoss’s Restaurant, 2409 Wilmington Road [Route 18], New Castle, Pa.
The meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. with dinner, which will be provided by Diversified Crop Insurance Services & Deerfield Farms Service. The meeting will begin immediately following the dinner.
Advance registration is required because of dinner planning. Register by calling the Lawrence County Cooperative Extension office at 724-654-8370, by Nov. 10.
Enrollment. Premium cost sharing is available through the USDA and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Enrollment in the program must be done with a crop insurance agent.
Enrollment must be completed with an approved crop insurance agent before Nov. 30, 2006.