Market News & Headlines >> USDA Releases More Supplemental Coverage Option Info

USDA on Tuesday released additional information on Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) availability for crop insurance covering spring 2015 crops.

A provision of the 2014 Farm Bill, SCO is a county-level policy endorsement that covers a portion of the deductible of the underlying crop insurance policy. Administered by USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA), SCO is available for corn, cotton, grain sorghum, rice, soybeans, spring barley, spring wheat, and winter wheat in select counties for the 2015 crop year.

Farmers and ranchers interested in learning how SCO can help them better manage unforeseen risks can now find maps showing where the option is available, commodity fact sheets, frequently asked questions, policy information and more at RMA’s website.

To help producers better understand the SCO and Stacked Income Protection Plan for producers of upland cotton (STAX) programs, RMA is also announcing an online Crop Insurance Decision Tool.

This tool, located at http://prodwebnlb.rma.usda.gov/apps/CIDT/ on RMA’s website, demonstrates how SCO and STAX plans work – how coverage is determined, when it pays, the approximate premium cost, and how it interacts with an underlying crop insurance policy. This user-friendly resource can help producers quickly explore and understand the variety of coverage options that these new products offer. Users will get estimates to help them make purchasing decisions. Producers should consult their crop insurance agents.

SCO must be bought as an endorsement to either the Yield Protection, Revenue Protection, or Revenue Protection with the Harvest Price Exclusion policies. The Federal Government pays 65% of the premium cost for SCO.

RMA plans to expand SCO to include additional counties and crops for the 2016 crop year. Producers may contact their crop insurance agents to discuss eligibility in time to sign up for winter wheat and spring crops.

Producers electing to participate in the Farm Service Agency’s Agricultural Risk Coverage for a crop on a farm cannot purchase SCO for the same crop on the farm.