Federal Crop Insurance Corporation – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) proposes to replace the Group Risk Plan (GRP) provisions in CFR part 407, which includes the: GRP Basic Provisions, GRP Barley Crop Provisions, GRP Corn Crop Provisions, GRP Cotton Crop Provisions, GRP Forage Crop Provisions, GRP Peanut Crop Provisions, GRP Sorghum Crop Provisions, GRP Soybean Crop Provisions, and GRP Wheat Crop Provisions, with a new Area Risk Protection Insurance (ARPI) Basic Provisions and ARPI Crop Provisions for each of these crops except Barley and Peanuts. The new ARPI provisions will also replace the Group Risk Income Protection (GRIP) Basic Provisions, the GRIP Crop Provisions, and the GRIP-Harvest Revenue Option (GRIP-HRO). ARPI will offer producers a choice of Area Revenue Protection, Area Revenue Protection with the Harvest Price Exclusion, or Area Yield Protection, all within one Basic Provision and the applicable Crop Provisions. This will reduce the amount of information producers must read to determine the best risk management tool for their operation and will improve the provisions to better meet the needs of insured's. The changes will apply for the 2013 and succeeding crop years.

This document requests input to help us improve services and reduce duplication of effort, including collecting information from the public. Specifically, the Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services (FFAS) agencies including the Farm Service Agency (FSA) and the Risk Management Agency (RMA) have been working on a joint, coordinated initiative to have a common U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) framework for producer's to report information to participate in certain USDA programs. FSA and RMA have been working in coordination with the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) on the common reporting process. The USDA retrospective review request for information (RFI) published in the Federal Register on April 20, 2011, included the initiative to simplify and reduce the reporting burden on the public for submitting participation information for USDA programs, while simultaneously reducing our administrative and operating costs by sharing similar data across participating agencies. We believe the public, especially farmers, producers, ranchers, and the crop insurance industry who submit and use the information may have suggestions that may effectively reduce the burden of providing the information that USDA agencies require. Any resulting improvements to the processes will be within existing legislative authorities.

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC), operating through the Risk Management Agency (RMA), announces its intent to award approximately $3,500,000 (subject to availability of funds) to fund the Risk Management Education and Outreach Partnerships Program. This Request for Applications (RFA) Announcement is for a combination of the programs previously known as the ``Commodity Partnerships for Small Agricultural Risk Management Education Sessions'' and the ``Community Outreach and Assistance Partnerships Program.'' The purpose of this combined cooperative partnership agreements program is to deliver crop insurance education and risk management training to U.S. agricultural producers to assist them in identifying and managing production, marketing, legal, financial and human risk. The program gives priority to: (1) Educating producers of crops currently not insured under Federal crop insurance, specialty crops, and underserved commodities, including livestock and forage; and (2) providing collaborative outreach and assistance programs for limited resource, socially disadvantaged and other traditionally underserved farmers and ranchers. The minimum award for any cooperative partnership agreement is $20,000. The maximum award for any cooperative partnership agreement is $100,000. The cooperative partnership agreements will be awarded on a competitive basis up to one year from the date of the award. Awardees must demonstrate non-financial benefits from a cooperative partnership agreement and must agree to the substantial involvement of RMA in the project. Funding availability for this program may be announced at approximately the same time as funding availability for similar but separate programs:CFDA No. 10.458 (Crop Insurance Education in Targeted States). Prospective applicants should carefully examine and compare the notices of each announcement. The collections of information in this Announcement have been approved by OMB under control numbers 0563-0066 and 0563-0067.

This document amends a number of regulations of the Department of Agriculture (USDA) principally to reflect the establishment of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the abolishment of the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, as mandated by section 251(f)(2) of the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 6971(f)(2)) (as added by section 7511 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (FCEA), Pub. L. 110-246). This rule also makes a number of miscellaneous amendments to the delegations of authority in 7 CFR part 2, as summarized below.

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) proposes to amend the General Administrative Regulations by adding a new subpart Y to provide a Good-Performance Refund (GPR) to producers who have demonstrated favorable crop insurance performance evidenced by a very limited number of claims experienced over a specified number of years participating Federal crop insurance programs. The GPR will recognize an individual producer's contributions to favorable program performance as authorized under section 508(d)(3) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act (Act). In addition, new or beginning producers demonstrating favorable crop insurance performance may also be recognized for initial participation in the program.

This document contains a correction to the final regulation which was published July 29, 2010 (75 FR 44709-44718). The regulation, as here pertinent, related to the insurance of stonefruit.

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) finalizes the Common Crop Insurance Regulations, Apple Crop Insurance Provisions. The intended effect of this action is to provide policy changes and clarify existing policy provisions to better meet the needs of insured producers, and to reduce vulnerability to program fraud, waste, and abuse. The changes will apply for the 2011 and succeeding crop years.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35) this notice announces the Risk Management Agency's intention to request an extension and revision to a currently approved information collection for Notice of Funds AvailabilityCommunity Outreach and Assistance Partnership Program.

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) finalizes the Common Crop Insurance Regulations; Florida Avocado Crop Insurance Provisions to convert the Florida avocado pilot crop insurance program to a permanent insurance program for the 2011 and succeeding crop years.

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC), operating through the Risk Management Agency (RMA), announces the availability of approximately $5,000,000 (subject to availability of funds) to fund cooperative agreements under the Crop Insurance Education in Targeted States program (the Targeted States Program). The purpose of this cooperative agreement program is to deliver crop insurance education and information to U.S. agricultural producers in certain States that have been designated as historically underserved with respect to crop insurance. The states, collectively referred to as Targeted States, are Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Multiple cooperative agreements will be funded not to exceed the maximum funding amount established for each of the 16 Targeted States. Awardees must agree to the substantial involvement of RMA in the project. Funding availability for this program may be announced at approximately the same time as funding availability for similar but separate programsCFDA No. 10.455 (Community Outreach and Assistance Partnerships), and CFDA No. 10.459 (Commodity Partnerships for Small Agricultural Risk Management Education Sessions). Prospective applicants should carefully examine and compare the notices for each program.

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) proposes to amend the Common Crop Insurance Regulations, Stonefruit Crop Insurance Provisions to allow coverage for plums under the Stonefruit Crop Insurance Provisions and to make other changes to clarify policy provisions. The proposed rule will also remove the Plum Crop Insurance Provisions from the Code of Federal Regulations. The intended effect of this action is to provide policy changes, to clarify existing policy provisions to better meet the needs of the producers, and to reduce vulnerability to program fraud, waste, and abuse. The changes will apply for the 2011 and succeeding crop years.

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation is reopening and extending the comment period for the proposed rule published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, September 8, 2009. The proposed rule amends the Common Crop Insurance Regulations, Apple Crop Insurance Provisions to provide policy changes, to clarify existing policy provisions to better meet the needs of insured producers, and to reduce vulnerability to program fraud, waste, and abuse. During the comment period, FCIC received comments that due to the public comment period overlapping with the apple harvest in some areas, sixty days was not adequate to properly review the proposed changes. FCIC agrees additional time is appropriate to ensure all interested persons have time to fully review the proposed rule and provide meaningful comments.

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) finalizes the Catastrophic Risk Protection Endorsement, the Group Risk Plan of Insurance Regulations, and the Common Crop Insurance Regulations, Basic Provisions to revise those provisions as mandated by the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Farm Bill). The changes will apply for the 2010 and succeeding crop years for all crops with a 2010 crop year contract change date on or after the effective date of this rule and for the 2011 and succeeding crop years for all crops with a 2010 crop year contract change date prior to the effective date of this rule.

The following paragraph has been added to the beginning of the Summary portion of the April 8, 2009, Federal Register Notice: The Risk Management Agency (RMA) did not receive complete and valid application packages for the State of Vermont under the original Request for Application Notice published in the Federal Register on April 8, 2009, for the Crop Insurance Education in the Targeted States Program (Targeted States Program). RMA is re-announcing its Funding OpportunityRequest for Applications under the Targeted States Program for the State of Vermont. Applicants who previously submitted an application under the April 8, 2009, Targeted States Program Request for Applications Notice for Vermont, must reapply in accordance with the original Notice published in the Federal Register on April 8, 2009. (https://www.rma.usda.gov/aboutrma/agreements). All other portions and sections of the full text notice remain unchanged.

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) finalizes amendments to the Common Crop Insurance Regulations, Grape Crop Insurance Provisions and Table Grape Crop Insurance Provisions. The intended effect of this action is to provide policy changes and clarify existing policy provisions to better meet the needs of insured producers, and to reduce vulnerability to fraud, waste, or abuse.

This document contains corrections to the final regulation which was published February 26, 2009. The regulation pertains to the insurance of cabbage.

Due to some errors, the following notice supersedes the original Request for Applications, published on March 27, 2009, for the Commodity Partnerships Small Sessions Program at 74 FR 13395-13403.

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC), operating through the Risk Management Agency (RMA), announces the availability of approximately $900,000 (subject to availability of funds) for Commodity Partnerships for Small Agricultural Risk Management Education Sessions (the Commodity Partnerships Small Sessions Program). The purpose of this cooperative partnership agreement program is to deliver training and information in the management of production, marketing, and financial risk to U.S. agricultural producers. The program gives priority to educating producers of crops currently not insured under Federal crop insurance, specialty crops, and underserved commodities, including livestock and forage. A maximum of 90 cooperative partnership agreements will be funded, with no more than nine in each of the ten designated RMA Regions. The maximum award for any cooperative partnership agreement will be $10,000. Awardees must demonstrate non- financial benefits from a cooperative partnership agreement and must agree to the substantial involvement of RMA in the project. Funding availability for this program may be announced at approximately the same time as funding availability for similar but separate programs CFDA No. 10.455 (Community Outreach and Assistance Partnerships), and CFDA No. 10.458 (Crop Insurance Education in Targeted States). Prospective applicants should carefully examine and compare the notices for each program.

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) finalizes the Common Crop Insurance Regulations Tobacco Crop Provisions. The amended provisions removed the Quota Tobacco Crop Insurance Provisions, and revised the Guaranteed Tobacco Crop Insurance Provisions, and changed the title of the Guaranteed Tobacco Crop Insurance Provisions to Tobacco Crop Insurance Provisions. The intended effect of this action is to provide policy changes and clarify existing policy provisions to better meet the needs of insured producers. The changes will apply for the 2010 and succeeding crop years.

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) finalizes the Common Crop Insurance Regulations; Cabbage Crop Insurance Provisions to convert the cabbage pilot crop insurance program to a permanent insurance program for the 2010 and succeeding crop years.

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) is amending the General Administrative Regulation, Appeal Procedure. This final rule incorporates a requirement mandated by the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Farm Bill) that allows producers to use both mediation and the informal administrative appeal process in their appeals of decisions by FCIC and making minor non-substantive changes for clarity.

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) finalizes the General Administrative Regulations; Administrative Remedies for Non- Compliance to add additional administrative remedies that are available as a result of the enactment of section 515(h) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act (Act) (7 U.S.C. 1515(h)), make such other changes as are necessary to implement the provisions of section 515(h) of the Act, and to clarify existing administrative remedies.

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) amends the Catastrophic Risk Protection Endorsement, the Group Risk Plan of Insurance Regulations, and the Common Crop Insurance Regulations, Basic Provisions to revise those provisions affected by the changes mandated by the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (Farm Bill 2008).

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) finalizes the Common Crop Insurance Regulations; Dry Pea Crop Insurance Provisions by including the insurability of additional types of dry peas, by offering winter coverage, by allowing replanting payments, and by making chickpeas insurable under the Dry Pea Crop Provisions. The changes will apply for the 2009 and succeeding crop years for all Dry Pea counties with a contract change date on or after November 30, 2008.