HYDE-SMITH, COLLEAGUES ASK USDA TO RESTORE PREVENTED PLANTING COVERAGE
Recent Rule Removes Crops Insurance Option for Producers Despite Congressional Directive
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) and colleagues on the Senate Agriculture Committee have asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to reinstate additional crop insurance coverage for acres prevented from being planted because of disasters like flooding.
The appeal is included in a bipartisan letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, which takes issue with a crop insurance rule issued by USDA Federal Crop Insurance Corporation that removes “buy up” coverage for prevented planting.
“Eliminating the option for producers to purchase additional buy-up coverage for prevented planting is troubling, especially at a time when our farmers need access to all risk management tools available to them,” the Senators wrote in a letter led by Agriculture Committee Chair and Ranking Member, John Boozman (R-Ark.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).
“As we work closely with USDA to get producers through this challenging time, we respectfully ask that USDA reverse this decision and allow producers access to the additional prevented plant coverage for 2027 and beyond to help provide a layer of certainty when disasters beyond their control render them unable to plant a crop,” the Senators wrote.
Prevented planting is a de facto coverage in all crop insurance policies. Increased coverage above the basic level, referred to as “buy-up” coverage. The request letter notes that removing the “buy up” option would affect more than 67 million acres in all 50 states and all covered commodities in 2025 alone.
In addition to Hyde-Smith, Boozman, and Klobuchar, the letter was also signed by Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and U.S. Senators John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Jim Justice (R-W.Va.), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), and Tina Smith (D-Minn.).
The Senators’ letter can be found here.
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