Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency (USDA-RMA) announced that agricultural producers with crop insurance can hay, graze or chop cover crops on prevent plant acres for silage, haylage or baleage at any time and still receive 100% of the prevented planting payment. Previously, cover crops could only by hayed, grazed or chopped after Nov. 1 on prevent plant acres, or the prevented planting payment was reduced.
“We appreciate the flexibility that USDA-RMA and Acting RMA Administrator Flournoy have added for cover crops on prevent plant acres,” Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring said. “Not only will this help mitigate drought impacts for feed for livestock, but will help encourage cover crop usage, which protects the soil from wind and water erosion.”
The decision allows flexibility for the 2021 crop year and makes the change permanent for future years.
For full details on this policy change, visit USDA-RMA’s prevented planting webpage at https://rma.usda.gov/Topics/Prevented-Planting.