Enclosure Page 2

FCIC Interpretation of Procedure

Risk Management Agency Interpretation of FCIC Provisions:

Subject: Request dated December 22, 2020, to the Risk Management Agency for an interpretation for 

the 2017 policy year in the determination of whether section 15(j)(2) of the 2017 Whole-Farm 

Revenue Protection (WFRP) Pilot Policy authorizes an Approved Insurance Provider (AIP) to revise 

an insured’s commodity count or coverage level after coverage attaches.

The relevant policy provision provided by the requestor is section 15(j)(2):

15 Required Reports

(j) You must provide, sign and certify all required reports and you are responsible for the 

accuracy of all information contained in those reports. You should verify the information 

on all reports prior to submitting them to us. If you submit information on any report that 

is different than what is determined to be correct and the information you originally 

submitted resulted in:

***

(2) A higher insured revenue than the corrected insured revenue, the information

contained in the Farm Operation Report will be revised to be consistent with the 

correct information and your insured revenue will be lowered to the correct amount.

Interpretation Submitted by Requestor(s)

The first requester’s interpretation is that section 9(b) of the WFRP Policy outlines that the AIP 

determines the commodity count based upon the requirements of section 19. Once an AIP makes this 

determination, the insured makes an election regarding coverage levels. See section 9(c). Section 15 

requires the insured to submit and confirm certain information contained in their Intended Farm 

Operation Report, Revised Farm Operation Report, Final Farm Operation Report, and also to report if 

the insured makes changes to the commodities grown. While section 15(j) allows for revisions to the 

Farm Operation Report (FOR) if the insured submits information that is different than what is

determined to be correct, this Section does not authorize such revisions if the AIP makes a 

determination that later proves to be incorrect but based upon the same information submitted by the 

insured.

The second requester states, as a prefatory note, section 9(b) of the WFRP Policy provides that the 

commodity count “must” be determined “according to section 19.” The second requester interprets 

that if, during the loss adjustment process, the AIP determines that the commodity count reported on 

the FOR is greater than the number of commodities permitted under section 19 and this results in a 

higher revenue than permitted under the policy, section 15(j)(2) authorizes and allows the AIP to 

reduce the insured revenue to reflect the correct commodity count. Likewise, section 15(j)(2) permits 

the AIP to reduce or deny any indemnity due, as a result of the revising the insured revenue so that it is 

consistent with the correct commodity count.

Federal Crop Insurance Corporation Determination

FCIC disagrees with both requesters’ interpretations. Section 15(j)(2) in the WFRP Pilot Policy only 

authorizes corrections when the insured reports different information than what was originally 

reported, and that information resulted in higher insured revenue than what was determined to be 

correct.
Enclosure Page 3

FCIC Interpretation of Procedure

However, the interpretation must be read with an understanding of the underlying assumption that an 

insured’s reports are filed correctly, and the insured’s policy is underwritten following policy and 

procedure published by RMA (i.e., section 19 of the 2017 WFRP Pilot Policy and paragraph 41 of the 

WFRP Pilot Handbook). If it is later determined the WFRP pilot policy provisions or WFRP Pilot 

Handbook procedures were not applied correctly, the underwriting must be corrected to comply with 

the policy provisions. If the underwriting correction results in a lower commodity count than was 

originally determined and the insured does not qualify for the coverage level elected, the coverage 

level must be reduced to the highest coverage level the insured is eligible for per section 9(c)(2) of the 

WFRP Pilot Policy.

In accordance with section 33(a)(1) of the WFRP Pilot Policy, this FCIC interpretation is generally 

applicable and binding in any mediation or arbitration. In accordance with section 33(a)(1), any 

appeal of this interpretation must be in accordance with 7 C.F.R. part 11.