Deadline is today for crop insurance on area pecans

The Non-Insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program offers protection against financial losses caused by natural disasters on non-insurable crops like pecans, pasture, hay, alfalfa, lespedeza seed, etc. Although eligibility for loss assistance on hay and pasture the last few drought years has been very difficult to qualify for, the eligibility requirements for pecans losses is very reasonable. Vernon County has 212 pecan producers and 5,500 acres of pecans, of these about 40 producers usually carry crop insurance.

In 2002 through 2004 about 80 percent of insured pecan producers earned payment. 2005 was a fair year for pecans and few losses were reported. The cost for NAP Insurance is $100 per crop per County. If you have both native and Improved pecans, each is considered a separate crop for insurance purposes. You must have a 50-percent loss in yield to qualify for payment. The payment rate is about $.32 for native and $.49 for improved pecans for each pound below the disaster level payment yield. This payment yield is dependent on each producer's actual proven history yield. For the last few years it has averaged about 72 pounds per acre for native and 125 pounds per acre for improved. Therefore, as an example, if pecans averaged about 25 pounds per acre, the eligible payment would be about $15 per acre for native and $49 per acre for improved. For more information on Pecan Insurance, contact the FSA office at (417) 667-8137. The final date to request insurance on 2006 pecans is today.