A Report from the

Risk Management Agency, 

U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

regarding:

The Department of Agriculture’s Annual Report to the 

Committee on Agriculture of the U.S. House of Representatives 

and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry of the 

U.S. Senate Regarding the Progress Made in Developing and 

Improving Federal Crop Insurance for Organic Crops

April 2018
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Contents

Introduction..................................................................................................................................... 1

Previous Reports to Congress......................................................................................................... 1

Progress in Implementing Organic Price Elections........................................................................ 2

New and expanded offerings of organic price elections............................................................. 2

Crops that do not require an organic price election .................................................................... 2

Data quality requirements........................................................................................................... 3

Existing data sources................................................................................................................... 3

Additional Crop Insurance Options for Organic Producers............................................................ 4

Contract price option offered under the Contract Price Addendum............................................ 4

Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) ................................................................................. 4

Cooperative Efforts with Other USDA Agencies to Obtain Data .................................................. 4

AMS Specialty Crops Market News........................................................................................... 4

AMS Livestock, Poultry and Grain Market News...................................................................... 6

NASS Organic Producer Surveys ............................................................................................... 7

Efforts to Obtain Data and Gather Feedback.................................................................................. 8

Contract for organic research ...................................................................................................... 8

Outreach and education............................................................................................................... 8

Recommendations........................................................................................................................... 9

Full access and use of survey data .............................................................................................. 9

Funding........................................................................................................................................ 9

Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 9
1 

Introduction

The Risk Management Agency (RMA) provides this report, pursuant to Section 508(c)(6)(D) of 

the Federal Crop Insurance Act, as amended by Section 11023 of the Agricultural Act of 2014: 

“The Corporation shall submit to the Committee on Agriculture of the House of 

Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate an 

annual report on progress made in developing and improving Federal crop insurance for 

organic crops, including: 

i. the numbers and varieties of organic crops insured;

ii. the progress of implementing the price elections required under this subparagraph,

including the rate at which additional price elections are adopted for organic crops;

iii. the development of new insurance approaches relevant to organic producers; and

iv. any recommendations the Corporation considers appropriate to improve Federal

crop insurance coverage for organic crops.”

This report provides: 1) a brief summary of our previous reports regarding our progress in 

establishing organic price elections and alternative options for organic coverage; 2) information 

on the availability of organic price elections for the 2018 crop year; 3) our ongoing efforts to 

obtain additional data and information to aid future development of price elections for crops for 

which we do not yet offer organic price elections1; and 4) recommendations to improve RMA’s 

ability to set organic price elections. 

Previous Reports to Congress 

This is the fifth annual report to Congress on the progress of implementing organic price 

elections. RMA’s 2014 report provided RMA’s data quality requirements, a list of organic price 

elections through the 2014 crop year, and summarized alternative tools to provide organic crop 

insurance coverage.2 RMA’s 2015 report provided an updated list of organic price elections 

through the 2015 crop year and detailed organic data collection efforts. 

In addition to providing an updated list of organic price elections, the 2016 report highlighted the 

expansion of the Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) program and detailed RMA’s 

collaboration with other USDA agencies to obtain organic price data. RMA’s 2017 report 

described many new organic price elections and announced that all crops covered by Federal 

crop insurance had been assessed for organic price elections. 

1

‘Organic price election’ refers to organic crops that receive a price election that is greater than the conventional

price election. Organic crops without an organic price election are still insurable at conventional price election

values, 

2 Previous reports are available at https://www.rma.usda.gov/pubs/ 
2

Progress in Implementing Organic Price Elections

New and expanded offerings of organic price elections

With the successful addition of an organic price election for Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage for 

the 2018 crop year, RMA now offers 79 distinct organic price elections. At this time, all crops 

covered by Federal crop insurance for the 2018 crop year have been assessed for organic 

coverage3. 

Crops that do not require an organic price election

Of the 19 crops that do not receive a distinct organic price election, all have been evaluated for 

the potential of an organic price election. These are identified as “Crops Assessed for Organic 

Coverage” in the chart below. These crops do not currently have an RMA established organic 

price election because either: a) there is no known organic production in insured areas; b) there is 

limited production and no available data that meets RMA’s data quality requirements; or c) 

pricing data suggests these organic crops do not receive a premium over conventional products. 

These crops are: alfalfa seed, all other citrus trees, canola, carambola trees, chile peppers, cigar 

filler tobacco, cigar wrapper tobacco, fire cured tobacco, forage seeding, lemon trees, lime trees, 

limes, macadamia trees, mango trees, peppers, processing apricots, processing freestone peaches, 

sugar beets, and tangors. 

 3 Based on the distinct number of crops listed in RMA’s online Actuarial Information Browser. Crops with Actual 

Revenue History (ARH) coverage, WFRP, nursery, clams, livestock policies, 508(h) submissions (other than the 

cottonseed endorsement), and crop policies that require a contract are not included in the total. Crops assessed for 

organic coverage, but that do not require an organic price election, are counted toward meeting the requirement of 

offering organic coverage, but are not included in the total crop count of 79. Identifying a commodity as having an 

organic price does not necessarily mean that RMA offers an organic price for all types and in all counties. 

Section 508(h) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act allows private parties to develop insurance products (commonly 

referred to as 508(h) submissions), including: 1) crop insurance policies, 2) provisions of policies, or 3) rates of 

premium. The 508(h) Submissions are exempt from Federal Crop Insurance Corporation requirements limiting 

coverage levels, rates, and prices under Section 508(h)(2). RMA does not have the regulatory authority to require

the owners of these products to create organic price elections for their submissions. Therefore, crops and/or crop 

types insured under 508(h) submissions are considered exempt from RMA’s organic price election requirements.
3

Data quality requirements

All of RMA’s previous reports have stressed the importance of RMA’s data quality requirements 

and the need for more data to develop additional organic price elections. The lack of available 

quality data continues to be the single most significant constraint to offering additional organic 

price elections. In order to meet the data quality requirements, the data must reflect a 

representative sample of the relevant organic producer population, be accurate, unbiased, and be 

available to RMA on a recurring basis. Additionally, to use data directly to establish an organic 

price election, it must be volume-weighted and must reflect the price received by producers (i.e., 

the price must not include the cost of value-added services beyond the farm-gate level). 

Existing data sources

RMA’s 2014 Report detailed the primary data sources available. These sources are largely 

unchanged and are summarized here for convenience.

When response-level data is available on a recurring basis, National Agricultural Statistics 

Service (NASS) data typically meets RMA’s data quality requirements and is the preferred data 

source for organic price elections. The data is accurate, unbiased, volume weighted, and 

representative of what producers receive. Prices are typically reported at the farm-gate level. 

For some crops, prices are reported at a price point located further in the supply chain and 

separate post-harvest cost information is still required to determine farm-gate values. 

Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Market News collects organic and conventional price 

quotes at various points in the supply chain (e.g., farm-gate, Shipping Point, Terminal Market, 

Retail). For some crop types (mainly organic grain and feedstuffs), prices are volume-weighted 

and are reported at the farm-gate level. For other crop types (most specialty crops, including 

fruits and vegetables), reported prices are not volume-weighted and are reported at points located 

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

CROP YEAR

PERCENT OF INSURED CROPS WITH 

ORGANIC PRICE ELECTIONS

Crops Assessed for Organic Coverage

Organic Price Elections
4 

further in the supply chain. For price data that is not volume-weighted, RMA cannot use the data 

directly to establish organic price elections, but can still use the prices to establish factors (or 

ratios) showing the historical premium of the organic price relative to the conventional price. 

These factors are applied to the conventional price election to establish organic price elections. 

Trade groups and industry sources also contribute data that RMA uses to develop organic price 

elections. Private data sources fill a critical gap because they are often the only source of data 

available for specific crop types or marketing regions. RMA makes every effort to verify that 

proprietary data meets our data quality requirements. However, in some cases, RMA might not 

be able to verify the sample sizes and representativeness of private data sets. In other cases, the 

price data may not be reported at a farm-gate level. Also, RMA cannot guarantee the future 

availability of such data sets because a private party offers data to RMA at their discretion. 

Thus, not all private data can be used to develop organic price elections. 

Additional Crop Insurance Options for Organic Producers

Contract price option offered under the Contract Price Addendum

The contract price option (www.rma.usda.gov/pubs/rme/addendum.pdf) allows organic 

producers and those transitioning to organic practices who receive a contract price for their crop 

to get a crop insurance guarantee that is more reflective of the actual value of their crop. Where 

available, producers can use their personal contract price as their price election, or choose 

existing crop insurance price elections. The contract price option is currently available for 66

crops. 

Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP)

The Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) plan of insurance provides a risk management 

safety net for all commodities produced on the farm under one insurance policy. This insurance 

plan is tailored for any farm with up to $8.5 million in insured revenue, including farms with 

specialty or organic commodities (both crops and livestock), and those marketing to local, 

regional, farm-identity preserved, specialty, or direct markets. All certified organic commodities 

may be insured at their farm-level organic prices provided the farm meets eligibility 

requirements. For the 2016 crop year WFRP was expanded to cover all states and counties 

nationwide. Organic coverage under WFRP has grown rapidly, up to $148 million in total 

liability for the 2017 crop year. 

Cooperative Efforts with Other USDA Agencies to Obtain Data

AMS Specialty Crops Market News

AMS Specialty Crops Market News collects and reports organic price data on a wide range of 

crops at price points located throughout the supply chain. The Shipping Point price is the price 

point that best approximates the price received by the farmer because this price contains fewer 
5

value-added services than prices further down the supply chain (i.e. Terminal Market/Wholesale 

and Retail).

The table below contains a list of organic crops reported by AMS Specialty Crops Market News 

at the Shipping Point level. At this time, RMA has developed organic price elections for all 

crops reported at the Shipping Point level by AMS Specialty Crops Market News for which

RMA offers a plan of insurance, except as noted below.

AMS Organic Specialty Crop Reporting (Shipping Point)

Crops for which 

RMA offers organic 

coverage in location(s) 

where AMS collects 

data

Crops for which 

RMA offers 

organic coverage 

in location(s) other 

than where AMS 

collects data

No organic 

coverage is 

provided by 

RMA

Crops not insured by RMA

Apples, Avocados, 

Blueberries, Cabbage, 

Lemons, Grapes,

Onions, Oranges, 

Pears, Potatoes, 

Strawberries, Tomatoes

(Grape), Tomatoes 

(Plum)

Green Beans, 

Sweet Corn, 

Tomatoes

Bell Peppers, 

Sweet Potatoes

Anise, Artichokes, Broccoli, 

Beets, Cantaloupes, Carrots, 

Cauliflower, Celery, Cilantro, 

Eggplant, Greens, Honeydew, 

Lettuce, Misc. Melons, 

Mango, Misc. Berries, 

Oregano, Parsley, Radish, 

Spinach, Squash, Watermelons

In the table above:

• Organic coverage refers to insurance plans that cover a single crop. All organic crops 

can be covered with an organic price under the Whole Farm Revenue Protection plan of 

insurance.

• Strawberries are insured under an ARH plan of insurance, which allows for organic 

coverage.

• Green beans are not insurable in California, the only shipping point reported by AMS. 

The existing plan of insurance covers production in New York, North Carolina, and 

Virginia. While RMA offers organic price elections in these three states based on other 

data sources, expanding reporting to include these states would help RMA enhance the 

accuracy of these organic price elections. 

• Tomatoes are insurable under two different plans of insurance. In Central/South 

Florida, tomatoes are insurable under a cost of production plan of insurance and price 

data is insufficient to determine organic costs of production. In other states (Alabama, 

Arkansas, California, North Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, 

Tennessee, and Virginia), tomatoes are insurable under a yield based plan of insurance

and expanded reporting would help RMA to develop organic price elections. The 

existing plan of insurance covers production for cherry, grape, plum, round, and other 

unspecified types. In covered states, AMS is currently only reporting the grape type.
6

• Bell peppers are only insurable under a cost of production plan of insurance in Florida. 

AMS currently does not report data for Florida. Expanded reporting to include Florida 

could help RMA develop an organic price election but price data alone is insufficient 

because organic costs of production are also needed.

• Sweet potatoes are insured under a 508(h) Submission and are exempt from Federal 

Crop Insurance Corporation price requirements. They are insurable only in Louisiana, 

and AMS collects data for California. 

AMS Livestock, Poultry and Grain Market News

Prices for organic grains and feedstuffs are reported, when available, both at the farm-gate level 

and delivered to an elevator. Some crop prices are also reported for forward contracts. Regular 

reporting on some organic grains is limited to the point that the data does not meet RMA’s data 

quality standards. Given the irregularity of price reporting of these crops, it is not possible to 

determine a season average price or an appropriate factor to establish an organic price election

using these data.

Reporting on organic prices for dry edible beans was added in September 2015. Data for dry 

edible beans is now reported at two different points in the supply chain and are reported by type, 

which has contributed to RMA’s development of new price elections.

The table below contains a list of organic crops reported by AMS Livestock, Poultry and Grain 

Market News. RMA has developed organic price elections for all crops regularly reported by 

AMS Livestock, Poultry and Grain Market News, except for triticale, which is a 508(h) 

submission. Some crops have organic price elections derived from other data sources. 

Crop Reported RMA Organic Coverage

Barley Yes

Corn Yes

Dry Edible Beans Yes

Grass and Alfalfa Hay Yes

Millet Yes

Oats Yes

Roasted Soybeans -not insured

Rye Yes

Sorghum Yes

Soybean Meal -not insured

Soybean Oil -not insured

Soybeans Yes

Spring Wheat Yes

Straw -not insured

Triticale No - insured as a 508(h) submission.

Winter Wheat Yes
7

RMA continues to work with AMS to improve the usability of AMS data for organic price 

elections. 

NASS Organic Producer Surveys

With the release of the 2016 Organic Producer Survey in September 2017, NASS has completed

five organic surveys (2008, 2011, 2014, 2015, and 2016). RMA has provided funding for three 

of the five surveys. Since 2011, RMA has worked with NASS to improve survey methods and 

expand data collection to include specific crop types and varieties not listed in previous surveys. 

The 2016 survey reflected over fourteen thousand certified organic producers and five million 

acres of organic farmland. 

While the Organic Producer Surveys have been an important data source for developing organic 

price elections, NASS is unable to share unpublished data with RMA because of the Confidential 

Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002 (CIPSEA).

Information collected under CIPSEA (including data from NASS Surveys) is to be used solely 

for statistical purposes in a manner that does not reveal the identities of individual survey 

respondents. To protect the identities of organic producers when publishing survey results for 

public dissemination, NASS uses data suppression techniques to withhold any data that could be 

used with other information to reveal an individual’s identity. This often means suppressing data 

from markets with very few participants as well as data from markets with a high degree of 

market concentration (primary suppression). However, survey data is also subject to secondary 

suppression, where additional data that would not have otherwise been withheld is aggregated 

with data from the primary suppression in order to conceal the identities of those producers. 

Given the very limited amount of organic production of some crops, especially those crops that 

do not yet have an organic price election, these data suppression techniques greatly limit RMA’s 

access to critical data.

RMA does have the option to visit a NASS Data Lab. However, the use of a Data Lab has posed

several challenges to RMA. While RMA can view response-level data at the lab, the data must 

still be aggregated to a level that meets CIPSEA requirements to be removed from the lab. 

RMA is only able to analyze specific data sets made available by NASS while at the Data Lab. 

This precludes RMA from analyzing the relationship between NASS data and data from other 

sources. Finally, and most importantly, the use of a Data Lab is incompatible with RMA’s 

normal investigative and research methodology for developing crop insurance price elections. 

For example, the typical research process for developing price elections is both iterative and 

cumulative, where the findings from an initial research question lead to additional research 

questions that need further investigation. RMA’s use of Survey data goes beyond extracting the 

price. Other data is used to identify patterns, trends, and relationships between price and other 

variables (including but not limited to production, yield, planted/harvested acres, 

imports/exports, price and production of competing, substitute, or conventional crops, etc.). 
8

Efforts to Obtain Data and Gather Feedback

Contract for organic research

As outlined in our 2014 Report, RMA entered into a contract with a private firm, Agralytica. 

The work required under the contract involves: 1) identifying, contacting, and working with 

producers and point-of-first-sale purchasers to gather information; 2) constructing cost of 

production budgets; and 3) compiling and analyzing results of the research. 

Results from the first task provided RMA with the necessary resources to identify and compile 

data sets, which were ultimately sufficient to add organic price elections for table grapes and 

raisins. The second task was to identify point-of-first-sale market information for sweet corn 

(Colorado, Florida, and New York), tomatoes (Florida), peppers (Florida), and dry peas and 

lentils (Montana, North Dakota, and Washington). Although the market information for sweet 

corn, tomatoes, and peppers was extremely limited, the market information on dry peas and 

lentils contributed to RMA’s success in developing new organic price elections for dry peas, 

beginning with the 2016 crop year. 

For the second task, RMA also requested cost-of-production budgets for both organic and 

conventional production of sweet corn, tomatoes, and peppers because they are each covered

under Dollar plans of insurance covering cost of production. Due to the very limited size of 

organic production of these crops in Florida, Agralytica was unable to develop organic cost-ofproduction budgets. Without representative organic cost estimates, organic price elections for 

these crops cannot be added. It is unclear how successful future research efforts may be at 

developing representative cost estimates as results showed that it is not possible to identify an 

adequate number of organic producers of these crops as would be necessary to develop organic 

cost-of-production budgets.

The third task was completed in 2016. Under this task, Agralytica was requested to gather 

market information and post-harvest cost-of-production budgets for apples (in Midwest and 

Eastern states) and pricing data for wheat. The post-harvest cost data for apples has been 

incorporated into price elections for both organic and conventional apples, but no new sources of 

organic apple and wheat pricing data were identified that meet data quality requirements.

Outreach and education

Throughout the year, RMA staff has engaged in public outreach to educate producers about 

organic crop insurance options and to gather feedback about existing programs. In 2017, RMA:

• Attended over 35 industry conferences and grower meetings, presenting information 

about organic coverage and WFRP. Conferences attended include: Midwest Organic 

and Sustainable Education Service Conference, Eco-Farm Conference, Organic 

Farming Conference, Northeastern Organic Farming Association Annual Meeting, and 

the Food and Farming Summit.
9

• Funded a webinar series to educate growers on best practices for growing pulse crops in 

the Pacific Northwest. The series was produced through a partnership with the USA 

Dry Pea and Lentil Council and included content specifically for organic growers. 

Recommendations

Full access and use of survey data

Consistent pricing data is needed to establish organic price elections. The issue of limited data in 

some markets is compounded by data suppression methods used by data collection agencies to 

protect the privacy of survey respondents. Given the very limited number of participants in 

many organic markets, there is data collected by these agencies that cannot be published or made 

available to RMA because it is protected under CIPSEA. CIPSEA stipulates that all data 

collected must be used for strictly statistical purposes. Given that RMA would use the data to 

establish organic price elections, NASS has determined RMA’s intended purpose does not meet 

the definition of a statistical use.

If RMA was granted authority to obtain unpublished NASS organic Survey data for organic price 

elections, the complications and limitations associated with use of a NASS Data Lab could be 

avoided and access to needed data could be guaranteed, while maintaining producer privacy. 

RMA uses producer data in a confidential manner to determine by crop, type, and region, the 

most appropriate price election. Price elections represent RMA’s forecast for a given crop year 

and do not reflect any specific data point used in the analysis. Prices reported in the Survey 

would not be identifiable via RMA’s published price elections, and thus would not violate the 

CIPSEA privacy guidelines. 

Funding

RMA continues to work with NASS to improve survey questionnaires to increase the likelihood 

that organic data collected will be able to be published. Annual appropriations for organic 

surveys would allow NASS the ability to consistently conduct organic surveys on an annual or 

biennial basis beyond the 2018 crop year. 

Conclusion

RMA is pleased to report significant achievement in developing organic price elections. With

the addition of an organic price election for Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage in the 2018 crop 

year, 100 percent of the crops insured by Federal crop insurance have been assessed for organic 

coverage. Organic price elections are now offered everywhere that data is available. 

Creating organic price elections for additional crops will be dependent upon data availability. 

Organic price data that meets RMA standards for these crops is especially scarce, and data that 

meets the requirements for actuarial soundness and good insurance principles is necessary before 

organic prices can be added for additional crops. 
10

RMA continues efforts to locate and analyze new sources of data. Every crop is evaluated 

annually to determine if there are new or updated sources of organic information sufficient to 

develop or enhance organic price elections. RMA will continue to pursue opportunities for the 

acquisition of additional organic price data and information, given funding availability. 

Whenever possible, RMA will continue to improve the farm safety net by adding additional 

organic price elections.