Rule change helps double crop farmers

MARISSA, Ill. — A recent rule change will help farmers who double crop to insure their crops according to planting date.

“Farmers who plant wheat and double-crop soybeans really need to take a look at this and get that done on their policies — this is a big deal,” said Eric Brammeier, owner and agent of SC Crop Insurance, based in Marissa.

A rule change, effective in 2020, allows farmers to insure Following Another Crop crops separately from Not Following Another Crop.

Brammeier said the change is a welcome one for farmers who plant soybeans after wheat in his part of Illinois.

“If you’ve got 40 acres of first-crop soybeans next to 40 acres of double-crop soybeans, in the past, if you insured soybeans, you had to insure all of your soybeans, whether they were first crop or second, you had to throw them together if they were in the same unit. Now, you can separate those first-crop beans from your double crop and let them stand on their own for insurance,” Brammeier said.

In the past, before the rule change, farmers who planted soybeans after wheat and didn’t receive rain in late July or early August could not claim those second-crop beans as a loss.

“If it doesn’t rain in August, your first-crop beans still might do 50 or 60 bushels, but the double crop might do 10. Before this change, you’d throw them together and you might not have a loss there. Now, you can separate them by practice,” Brammeier said.

Not every county in the state qualifies for the FAC practice.

“You have to make sure that FAC beans are eligible for insurance in your area,” the insurance agent said.

Brammeier said most of his customers are choosing to keep the same crop insurance coverage levels they have had. He and his agents also are talking to customers who are interested in adding Enhanced Coverage Option and Supplemental Coverage Option to their crop insurance coverage.

“One difference that they need to realize is those two products, while they offer additional coverage, they are county-based trigger policies. We are not on the flat, black dirt in southern Illinois, so depending on where you live, what county, that might be a good fit for you, but it might not. Those two options are a little bit pricey, especially the ECO down in this neighborhood. It’s not quite as good a fit for farmers down here,” Brammeier said.