Wrapping up 2024
Although it’s still early, I’m seeing and hearing of corn production at or above Actual Production History (APH) levels for multi-peril crop insurance.
As I type this article, ironically, both new crop corn and soybean futures prices are down 13% from our spring price guarantee (corn – $4.66 to $4.05; soybeans – $11.55 to $10.05).
That being said, it will take continued deterioration in new crop futures prices, production to come in below APH levels, or a combination of both before crop insurance indemnities will be triggered.
The key takeaway from this is that you should get your production to your crop insurance agent as soon as possible to determine whether you are in a revenue loss situation.
Additionally, if you plan to comingle new crop and old crop bushels, you must let your crop insurance agent know so that bin measurements can be done prior to grain being comingled.
Considerations for 2025
Coming off a good year of moisture in most areas may mean it’s time to consider Pasture, Rangeland, Forage (PRF) insurance to help insure against a potential dry year in 2025.
PRF is designed to give you the ability to buy insurance protection for losses of forage produced for grazing or harvested for hay. The PRF program utilizes a rainfall index to determine precipitation for coverage purposes and does not measure production loss relative to historical APH data.
Even though we’ve come down from record-high cattle prices, today’s prices remain at historically high levels.
Many cow-calf producers took advantage of the unborn Livestock Risk Protection (LRP) product this spring to “buy time” and will now be faced with how to manage price risk from now until they sell backgrounded calves in first quarter of 2025.
If you are one of those producers, or if you would like to learn more about Livestock Risk Protection, feel free to give me a call at (605) 940-6517 so we can discuss options.
Meanwhile, I hope you all have a safe and bountiful harvest, and that you take some time to enjoy SDSU football this fall!
