As we recently announced on the blog, we have decided to rebrand First Crop Solutions to First Ag Risk Management (FARM)!
With our focus on providing more than just “crop” insurance, we felt it was important to better reflect the range of services we offer to you.
Crop insurance is still our main focus, but as we grow our Livestock Risk Protection portfolio along with a host of other products, we wanted to stay true to our main goal: helping you manage risk in any area of your operation.
And you may have noticed the acronym for First Ag Risk Management — so, welcome to the FARM!
As we look toward this fall, it appears that there will likely be losses in a lot of areas for our corn and soybean producers due to the hot and dry summer.
Moreover, as of August 30, the price of corn was trading well below our spring guarantee of $5.91; this will raise the yield trigger for revenue policies.
It could be possible, with high coverage levels, to still have a crop yield close to APH levels and potentially have a claim.
Therefore, if you plan to comingle any grain in bins on the farm, it’s vital to have them measured before any new crop would go in. This will be huge in the event that you have a loss.
Furthermore, claim payments could have some income tax implications, and it will be important to talk with your agent and tax advisor on how to handle any indemnity payments.
As we have hit on before in the fall newsletter, the Pasture, Rangeland, Forage (PRF) insurance policy is a great tool to help during dry years.
This program is designed to give you the ability to buy insurance protection for losses of forage produced for grazing or harvested for hay, which result in increased costs for feed, destocking, depopulating, or other actions. The PRF program utilizes a rainfall index to determine precipitation for coverage purposes and does not measure production or loss of products themselves.
Additionally, livestock producers may be interested in a Livestock Risk Protection (LRP) policy.
These policies act like a put option to set a floor under cattle and hogs, and they can prevent losses due to declining market prices. With where cattle prices are currently, you may want to consider adding an LRP policy.
As I have said before, this is my favorite time of year! The feeling of getting to reap what we have sowed is simply amazing.
And, there’s nothing like giving combine rides, cheering on SDSU football in the combine cab, and enjoying the beautiful fall sunsets on the farm.
I hope everyone has a safe harvest; feel free to contact me any time at (605) 999-8011, and I hope to visit many of you on the farm this fall.
