Farmers who purchased crop insurance for the 2019 crop year need to make their premium payments by January 31. Yankton, South Dakota crop insurance agent Dave Hubbs says if farmers are late with their payment, they face interest charges on top of their premium costs.
He says the biggest issue his clients faced in 2019 was prevented planting.
Farmers that received a prevented planting “top-up” payment last fall are required to purchase federal crop insurance for the next two crop years. The sales closing dates to purchase these crop insurance policies are January 31, February 15, February 28 and March 15, 2020 depending on a producer’s policy.
Hubbs says there were a large number of acres that never got planted in the Yankton area in 2019.
Producers who have trouble making their premium payment should contact their crop insurance agent to set up a written payment agreement. This way they avoid being made ineligible to purchase Federal crop insurance and having to pay back the “top-up” payment.
