USDA organic regulations describe organic agriculture as the application of a set of cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that support the recycling of on-farm resources, promote ecological balance and conserve biodiversity.

These practices include maintaining and enhancing soil and water quality; conserving wetlands and wildlife; and avoiding use of synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, irradiation, and genetic engineering.

The major focus of this bulletin is on crops and livestock, in the category of organic products for which USDA Risk Management Agency insurance products and USDA Farm Service Agency programs may be available to address production, price and revenue risks and losses from natural catastrophic disasters.

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Two questions are central to understanding producer options for risk management and other government programs related to specialty crops and specialty livestock operations. First: what is a specialty crop? Second: what is a specialty livestock operation?

Each of these terms has a legal or administrative definition and a common usage definition.

This bulletin focuses on the management of production, price, and revenue risks for specialty crops and specialty livestock and the farms and ranches that have incorporated such enterprises into their overall enterprise mix. To be inclusive as possible, the terms specialty crops and specialty livestock operations, are given their broadest and most encompassing interpretations.

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Producers include specialty and organic crops and specialty livestock in their farm’s enterprises for many reasons.

Nevertheless, over the longer term, specialty and organic crop and livestock enterprises have to be managed in ways that ensure the farm remains profitable.

Increasingly, many farms are choosing to focus substantial amounts of their available resources, or even the whole farm or ranch, to specialty and organic crop and livestock enterprises.

This bulletin examines the risks associated with specialty and organic farm enterprises and discusses in general terms the various private and federally supported risk management products and programs that can be used to address them.

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Members of the RightRisk Team contributed to a survey of the Agricultural Industry in the 13 western states. Results are now available from the survey.

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Members of the RightRisk Team have contributed to a Western Extension Committee survey of the Agricultural Industry in the 13 western states. Read the announcement below for instructions on how to participate if you are interested in sharing your perspective on the current conditions in the agriculture sector.

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The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) Board of Directors (Board) recently approved the following modifications to the Pasture, Rangeland, Forage (PRF) pilot program beginning with the 2016 crop year:
   • Replace the Vegetation Index-PRF (VI-PRF) with the Rainfall Index (RI-PRF) program in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming;
   • Expand RI-PRF to 19 states;
   • Revise the pricing methodology for both haying and grazing practices;
   • Add an irrigated practice for haying in specific states to address added irrigation costs;
   • Add an irrigated and non-irrigated practice reporting requirements on the acreage report; and
   • Remove the RI capping process for PRF only. The capping process remains for Apiculture (API) and Annual Forage.

Producers currently enrolled in the VI-PRF pilot are eligible for the RI-PRF pilot. Qualified producers who were enrolled in the VI-PRF pilot programs in 2015 and who enroll in the RI-PRF pilot for 2015 will be considered carry-over insureds and will not have a break in continuity for insurance coverage purposes.

Producers who previously purchased VI-PRF must complete a new application prior to the sales closing date if they wish to obtain RI-PRF. Producers must use the Grid ID Locator found on the RMA web site at: http://www.rma.usda.gov/policies/pasturerangeforage to establish the grid id for the RI-PRF program.

Sign up for RI-PRF ends with the sales closing date: November 15, 2015. The coverage period follows over the 2016 calendar year.

To learn more about programs offered by the Risk Management Agency see: Risk Management Agency, or contact a local crop insurance agent.

 
Whole-Farm Revenue Protection insurance will be available in every county in the nation in 2016. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is also making changes to the policy to help farmers and ranchers with diversified crops including beginning, organic, and fruit and vegetable growers, better access Whole-Farm Revenue Protection.

Whole-Farm Revenue Protection insurance allows producers with limited access to a risk management safety net, to insure all of the commodities on their farm at once instead of one commodity at a time.

USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) introduced the Whole-Farm Revenue Protection pilot program for the 2015 insurance year. Starting with the 2016 insurance year, the new program will be available in all counties in the United States, a first for the federal crop insurance program.

USDA also provided additional flexibility to producers by making the following changes, including:
   • Beginning Farmers and Ranchers – RMA makes it easier for more beginning farmers and ranchers to participate in the program by reducing the required records from five to three historical years, plus farming records from the past year. Additionally, any beginning farmer and rancher may qualify by using the former farm operator’s federal farm tax records if the beginning farmer or rancher assumes at least 90 percent of the farm operation.
   • Livestock Producers – RMA removed the previous cap that limited participants to those who received 35 percent or less of their income from livestock production. Producers will now be able to insure up to $1 million worth of animals and animal products.
   • Expanding Operations – RMA increased the cap on historical revenue for expanding operations to 35 percent from its previous 10 percent to better allow growing farms the opportunity to cover their growth in the insurance guarantee.

To learn more about programs offered by the Risk Management Agency see: Risk Management Agency, or contact a local crop insurance agent.

 
Wyoming ranch managers are increasingly seeking production risk management tools for harvested forage production and grass production on rangeland. Forage production and rangeland production risks can be addressed to some degree by using the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) provided by the Farm Service Agency (FSA) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

In years when severe droughts are declared in a county, the Livestock Forage Program (LFP) provides compensation for forage production losses due to drought on rangeland.

The Risk Management Agency (RMA) offers a pilot Pasture, Rangeland, Forage-Vegetation Index (VI-PRF) insurance product in Wyoming that can be used to offset production losses on hay land production and grass production on rangeland.

Ranchers who suffer production losses in hay production and losses in grass production on rangeland can receive payments from NAP, LFP, and VI-PRF on the same forage loss without any payments offsets.

This policy issues paper provides Wyoming farmers and ranchers who suffer production losses on hay production and losses in grass production on rangeland with information on how they can receive payments from NAP, LFP, and PRF-VI. In addition, it reviews the risk management and crop insurance coverage benefits these programs provide to those who use them.

 
To download a copy of the issues paper from the Western Risk Management Library, click here.

To learn more about programs offered by the Farm Service Agency under the 2014 Farm Bill see: Farm Service Agency Farm Bill Information, or contact a local FSA office.

To learn more about programs offered by the Risk Management Agency under the 2014 Farm Bill see: Risk Management Agency Farm Bill – 2014, or contact a local crop insurance agent.

 
Through the provisions of the 2014 Agricultural Act that became law on February 17, 2014, Wyoming farmers have new farm income safety net-related policy tools that can be used to improve the financial performance of their operations.

These tools are intended to enable farmers to increase the average incomes they obtain from their operations and, at the same time, moderate the financial risks they face in managing their enterprises. However, the new set of policy tools requires farmers to make choices among the competing alternatives now available to them about which crop specific programs they should use.

In the case of a new crop-specific insurance policy called the Supplementary Insurance Coverage Option (SCO), farmers have to decide whether they should sign up for that policy and, at the same time, whether they should adjust the coverage levels they obtain through their current crop insurance policies.

This policy issues paper provides Wyoming farmers with information about the SCO program and the risk management and crop insurance coverage options the program provides to them.

To download a copy of the issues paper from the Western Risk Management Library, click here.

To view other materials on the 2014 Farm Bill developed for Wyoming see: http://RightRisk.org/WY

To learn more about programs offered by the Farm Service Agency under the 2014 Farm Bill see: Farm Service Agency Farm Bill Information, or contact a local FSA office.

 
The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation Board of Directors recently approved a number of program changes to the LRP-Lamb plan of insurance including:

  1. A new price prediction model;
  2. A revised definition of “Insured Lambs”;
  3. Removal of the 20-week endorsement;
  4. Added language to prevent assignment of indemnities to businesses buying, selling, marketing, or packing lambs;
  5. Changes to the daily and annual sales limit; and
  6. Modifications to how the actual ending values are calculated.

LRP-Lamb is targeted to have sales resume in May 2015. Producers interested in purchasing an LRP-Lamb Specific Coverage Endorsement must contact a crop insurance agent and complete an application that will be submitted through an Approved Insurance Provider (AIP).

To learn more about USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) LRP-Lamb, see: http://www.rma.usda.gov/livestock/, or contact a local crop insurance agent.