I am reposting a letter sent out by Bobby Cox, President-Elect, Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association regarding crop insurance, loss and filing your claims.  It’s been a hard year and many growers and farmers have had unprecedented losses.  Insurance can be a funny thing, so here’s a bit of information for you.

Crop Insurance

by Bobby Cox
“With this very difficult year most Texas winegrowers have a very short crop and many qualify for crop insurance loss payments. That is, if you have purchased the insurance that is available. It is very important to file quickly due to the unprecedented drought. Current estimates predict statewide crop losses three times larger than the previous record crop losses. There is a chance that the crop insurance system will be overwhelmed when the enormity of the losses becomes more evident, so get your claims in early. Your documentation needs to be clear and unambiguous. Weight tickets need to be on winery letterhead and as official looking as humanly possible. You do not need to get put back into the system because something in your packet needed verification.

Almost every crop grown in Texas will be subject to disaster programs. The rules for the programs are quite firm and must be honored. For years the FDA has wanted farmers to buy crop insurance, but many farmers bet on a good year ever so often. Therefore if a disaster is declared and crop insurance has not been obtained on ALL eligible crops, disaster payments will not be made. For example, if a winegrower had not insured his eligible vines, disaster payment will not be made for that grower’s hay, cotton, wheat, cattle or grain either.

Vines are eligible if they are fourth leaf or older and have produced two tons per acre or more. A grower can be strategic and wait for a better yield to insure his crop to gain a larger insured yield BUT if a disaster occurs while your eligible vines remain uninsured, you will be disqualified for disaster programs of all types. Sign up deadline for grape insurance is November 20 for crop year 2012. It would look good on your other disaster program forms if this were done early.

I hope we won’t need it next year, but I want to encourage you to take care of your grape insurance now and stay ahead of the crowd.”