The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a new crop insurance program designed for agricultural producers who use controlled environments as a major part of their operations. The Controlled Environment program from USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) is specifically for plants grown in fully enclosed controlled environments. It provides coverage against plant diseases subject to destruction orders.
The Controlled Environment program provides a risk management resource for urban, specialty crop and organic producers. It will be available beginning in the 2024 crop year. The first sales closing date is Dec. 1, 2023.
“Controlled environment agriculture is a quickly growing sector in the nation’s food production,” said RMA Administrator Marcia Bunger.
The Controlled Environment program is a dollar plan of insurance, which bases the insured’s guarantee on inventory values reported by the producer. It provides coverage against plant diseases when the plants must be destroyed under a federal or state destruction order.
The program adds to two other federal insurance products available to nursery and innovative agricultural producers by providing benefits not available under the other programs, such as:
- Coverage for all controlled environment plants, including cuttings, seedlings and tissue culture
- Crop insurance coverage through a streamlined application and policy renewal process
- New crop insurance coverage specific to the disease risk to plants in controlled environment operations
- Insurance for producer-selected plant categories for controlled environments that are not in other nursery insurance programs
- Single peril controlled environment insurance to be purchased as a standalone policy or in conjunction with other nursery insurance
The Controlled Environment program will be available in select counties in Alabama, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Crop insurance is sold and delivered solely through private crop insurance agents. A list of crop insurance agents is available at all USDA Service Centers and online at the RMA Agent Locator. Learn more about crop insurance and the modern farm safety net at rma.usda.gov or by contacting an RMA Regional Office.
Source: USDA
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