Five More States Get Pasture, Rangeland, Forage

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Federal Crop Insurance Corporation board of directors voted to expand the Pasture, Rangeland, Forage (PRF) program of insurance at its September meeting. The Board approved the expansion of the pilot to Arkansas, Maryland, Minnesota and Wisconsin under the Rainfall Index (RI) and to Nevada under the Vegetation Index (VI) beginning with the 2012 crop year.

A map of the coverage areas for both the RI and VI is available at www.rma.usda.gov/policies/pasturerangeforage/2011availabilitymap.pdf.

"This innovative pilot program is based on vegetation and rainfall indices," said Risk Management Agency Administrator William J. Murphy. "It is designed to give forage and livestock producers the ability to insure for losses of forage intended for grazing or to be harvested for hay. The use of technology allows the federal crop insurance program to offer an insurance product useful to ranchers who rely on pastures and rangelands for their livestock."

More information about the PRF program is available at www.rma.usda.gov/policies/pasturerangeforage.