Hello Again!
Don’t be left out in the rain! The Non-Insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) can soften financial losses caused by natural disasters, but only if you insured your crop.
If you are a policy holder of a NAP crop, you need to take certain steps to ensure you maximize your benefits under this program. This can be accomplished by adhering to the following five steps:
1. First and foremost, you are required to report your acreage to your local FSA office by the established reporting deadline. The deadline varies by crop, so contact your local office if you have not already completed your report of acres.
2. Although it is not required, it is important to establish your Actual Production History. If this is the first year for your policy, you will be given the opportunity to provide four years of production data. This production data will be used to establish the base line in which all future NAP payments are triggered.
NOTE: If you choose to not provide this production data for all four years, a substantially lower yield will be assigned to your crop for any year in which the data is not provided. This could drastically reduce your level of protection under the program.
3. Annually, you will need to report your production to your local office. Your production information must show the quantity for the entire crop and the disposition of the crop whether it was marketable, non marketable, salvaged or used differently than intended. This data must be provided in a manner easily understood by FSA employees.
4. You will need to file a notice of loss if your crop is affected by a natural disaster, which includes but is not limited to: drought, freeze, hail, excessive moisture, high winds, flood, excessive heat or disease or insect infestation resulting from damaging weather.
A Notice of Loss must be filed within 15 calendar days of the natural disaster occurrence, final planting date if your claim is for Prevented Planting or date the damage to the crop becomes apparent to you.
5. An application for payment will also need to be filed for your crop. You must do this before the reporting deadline for the following year’s crop. You will be required to provide evidence of production and note whether the crop was marketable, unmarketable, salvaged or used differently than intended.
To be eligible for a payment under the Non-Insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program, your crop must have suffered at least a 50 percent loss in production OR prevented from planting more than 35 percent of the intended acreage.
We will compare your expected production (determined in step 2 above) to your actual production to determine your percentage of loss.
If you have any questions regarding your NAP policy, contact your local office.
That’s All For Now,
FSA Andy
