Hello,
Most weekends in the fall, as all the people traipse through orchards and buy apples, and cider, and chase the kids through the straw mazes and corn mazes, while picking out pumpkins, and just spending the last few beautiful Saturdays of fall enjoying all the hard work of our specialty farmers.
Those same farmers are completing their harvest and are hard at work with the planning phase for next year. Much like grain farmers, those that produce specialty crops such as fruits and vegetables are busy planning for the coming year as well.
NAP
November is a busy month for the Non-Insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program or NAP as we like to call it here at FSA.
NAP is available to crops and agricultural commodities for which CAT or additional coverage under “normal” crop insurance, is not available.
NAP is designed to reduce financial losses that occur when natural disasters cause a loss of production, loss of value, or prevented planting of an eligible crop. NAP provides similar security to producers of specialty crops as standard insurance provides for grain farmers, with many of the same requirements.
The most common of those being production reporting.
All producers, including producers of hand-harvested crops, are required to provide acceptable and verifiable production records for production that is harvested by the later of the subsequent year acreage reporting date or 60 calendar days after the normal harvest date.
In addition, for producers who have not yet enrolled in 2017 NAP program, Nov. 20, 2016 is the last day to apply for NAP coverage for 2017 apples, asparagus, blueberries, cranberries, cherries, chestnuts, forage for hay and pasture, grapes, nectarines, peaches, pears, plums, strawberries, honey, maple sap and hops.
Much like standard crop insurance you hope that it will not be necessary but in the event you have a year that is not so favorable the NAP can be a good safety net, we invite anyone who has not inquired about NAP before to visit the local county office and review the costs and advantages of this program.
Producers who have not yet provided the necessary documentation for production reporting are encouraged to contact the local office for an appointment.
That’s all for now,
FSA Andy
