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15-CCIP-Farm Bill

(JUNE 2014)

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE CORPORATION

COMMON CROP INSURANCE POLICY BASIC PROVISIONS FARM BILL AMENDMENT

____________________________________________________________________________________________

(This is a Continuous Amendment)

This amendment modifies the provisions of the Common Crop Insurance Policy Basic Provisions (CCIP) for the 2015

and succeeding crop years for all crops with a 2015 contract change date on or after June 30, 2014, and for the 2016

and succeeding crop years for all crops with a 2015 contract change date prior to June 30, 2014.

The changes to this above policy are required as the result of changes mandated by the Agricultural Act of 2014 

(commonly referred to as the 2014 Farm Bill), enacted on February 7, 2014, and the Interim Rule effective in the 

Federal Register on June 30, 2014.

The revised provisions are as follows:

In addition 

to section:

The following provisions have been added: 

1 Beginning farmer or rancher – An individual who has not actively operated and managed a farm 

or ranch in any state, with an insurable interest in a crop or livestock as an owner-operator, 

landlord, tenant, or sharecropper for more than five crop years, as determined in accordance with 

FCIC procedures. Any crop year’s insurable interest may, at your election, be excluded if earned 

while under the age of 18, while in full-time military service of the United States, or while in postsecondary education, in accordance with FCIC procedures. A person other than an individual may 

be eligible for beginning farmer or rancher benefits if all of the substantial beneficial interest holders 

qualify as a beginning farmer or rancher.

2(f)(2) (iv) A determination made in section 2(f)(2)(iii)(B) exhausts all administrative remedies for purposes 

of termination.

3(b)(2) (iii) You have additional coverage for the crop in the county, and the actuarial documents provide 

for separate coverage by irrigated and non-irrigated practices for the crop. 

(A) You may select one coverage level for all irrigated acreage and one coverage level for all 

non-irrigated acreage. For example: you may choose a 65 percent coverage level for all 

irrigated acreage (corn irrigated practice) and an 80 percent coverage level for all nonirrigated acreage (corn non-irrigated practice). 

(B) If the Crop Provisions allow the option to separately insure individual crop types or 

varieties, and the actuarial documents provide for separate coverage, you may select 

coverage levels by irrigated and non-irrigated practice for each separate type or variety.

3 (l) Notwithstanding any other provision, if you qualify as a beginning farmer or rancher and were 

previously involved in a farming or ranching operation, including involvement in the decisionmaking or physical involvement in the production of the crop or livestock on the farm, for any 

acreage obtained by you, you may receive a yield that is the higher of:

(1) The actual production history of the previous producer of the crop or livestock on the acreage 

you were previously involved with; or

(2) Your actual production history.

5 5. Exclusion of Yields.

If provided in the actuarial documents, you may elect to exclude any actual yield for any crop 

year when FCIC determines for a county, or its contiguous counties, the per planted acre yield 

was at least 50 percent below the simple average of the per acre planted yield for the crop in 

the county for the previous 10 consecutive crop years.

7 (g) If you qualify as a beginning farmer or rancher, your premium subsidy will be 10 percentage 

points greater than the premium subsidy that you would otherwise receive, unless otherwise 

specified in the Special Provisions. 

(h) Effective for any policies with a sales closing date on or after July 1, 2015, you will be ineligible 

for any premium subsidy paid on your behalf by FCIC for any policy issued by us if:

(1) USDA determines you have committed a violation of the highly erodible land conservation 

or wetland conservation provisions of 7 CFR part 12 as amended by the Agricultural Act of 

2014; or
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In addition 

to section:

The following provisions have been added: 

(Continued)

7

(2) You have not filed form AD-1026, or successor form, with FSA by June 1 prior to the sales 

closing date to be properly identified as in compliance with the applicable conservation 

provisions specified in section 7(h)(1). 

(i) Notwithstanding section 7(h)(2), if you demonstrate you are a beginning farmer or 

rancher who has not previously had an insurable interest in a crop or livestock and 

began farming for the first time after June 30 prior to the sales closing date, you fail to 

file form AD-1026 or successor form with the FSA, by June 1after you make application 

for insurance.

(ii) To be eligible for premium subsidy paid on your behalf by FCIC, it is your responsibility 

to assure you meet all the requirements for:

(A) Compliance with the conservation provisions specified in section 7(h)(1) of this 

section; and

(B) Filing form AD-1026, or successor form, to be properly identified as in compliance with the 

conservation provisions specified in section 7(h)(1) of this section.

9 (f) Section 9(e) is not applicable to areas of native sod acreage that is five acres or less in the 

county.

34(a)(4) (viii) If allowed by the actuarial documents, you may elect separate enterprise units for irrigated and 

non-irrigated practices.

(A) You may elect one enterprise unit for all irrigated practices and one enterprise unit for all 

non-irrigated practices.

(B) You must separately meet the requirements in section 34(a)(4) for each enterprise unit.

(C) If we discover you do not qualify for an enterprise unit for the irrigated and non-irrigated 

practices and such discovery is made: 

(1) On or before the acreage reporting date, you may elect to insure all acreage of the crop 

in the county in one enterprise unit provided you meet the requirements in section 

34(a)(4), or your unit division will be based on basic or optional units, whichever you 

report on your acreage report and qualify for; or

(2) At any time after the acreage reporting date, your unit structure will be one enterprise 

unit provided you meet the requirements in section 34(a)(4). Otherwise, we will 

assign the basic unit structure.

In lieu of 

section:

The following provisions will apply:

1 –

definitions of 

“native sod” 

and “Prairie 

Pothole 

National 

Priority Area”

Native sod - Acreage that has no record of being tilled (determined in accordance with information 

collected and maintained by an agency of the USDA or other verifiable records that you provide 

and are acceptable to us) for the production of an annual crop on or before February 7, 2014, and 

on which the plant cover is composed principally of native grasses, grass-like plants, forbs, or 

shrubs suitable for grazing and browsing.

The term “Prairie Pothole National Priority Area” and its definition are removed. 

2(f)(2)(iii) Once the policy is terminated, it cannot be reinstated for the current crop year unless: 

(A) The termination was in error; 

(B) The Administrator of the Risk Management Agency, at his or her sole discretion, determines 

that the following are met:

(1) In accordance with 7 CFR part 400, subpart U and FCIC issued procedures, you provide 

documentation that your failure to pay your debt is due to an unforeseen or unavoidable 

event or an extraordinary weather event that created an impossible situation for you to 

make timely payment;

(2) You remit full payment of the delinquent debt owed to us or FCIC with your request 

submitted in accordance with section 2(f)(2)(iii)(B)(3); and

(3) You submit a written request for reinstatement of your policy to us no later than 60 days 

after the termination date or the missed payment date of a previously executed written 

payment agreement, or the due date specified in the notice to you of the amount due, if 

applicable.
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In lieu of 

section:

The following provisions will apply:

(Continued)

2(f)(2)(iii)

(i) If authorization for reinstatement is granted, your policies will be reinstated effective at 

the beginning of the crop year for which you were determined ineligible, and you will be 

entitled to all applicable benefits under such policies, provided you meet all eligibility 

requirements and comply with the terms of the policy; and

(ii) There is no evidence of fraud or misrepresentation; or 

(C) We determine that, in accordance with 7 CFR part 400, subpart U and FCIC issued 

procedures, the following are met:

(1) You can demonstrate:

(i) You made timely payment for the amount of premium owed but you inadvertently 

omitted some small amount, such as the most recent month’s interest or a small 

administrative fee;

(ii) The amount of the payment was clearly transposed from the amount that was 

otherwise due (For example, you owed $832 but you paid $823); or 

(iii) You made the full payment of the amount owed but the payment was delayed and 

postmarked by no more than 7 calendar days after the termination date or the missed 

payment date of a previously executed written payment agreement, or the due date 

specified in the notice to you of the amount due, as applicable.

(2) You remit full payment of the delinquent debt owed to us; and 

(3) You submit a written request for reinstatement of your policy to us in accordance with 7 

CFR part 400, subpart U and applicable procedures no later than 30 days after the 

termination date or the missed payment date of a previously executed written payment 

agreement, or the due date specified in the notice to you of the amount due, if applicable; 

and

(4) There is no evidence of fraud or misrepresentation.

7(e)(4) The administrative fee will be waived if you request it and:

(i) You qualify as a beginning farmer or rancher;

(ii) You qualify as a limited resource farmer; or

(iii) You were insured prior to the 2005 crop year or for the 2005 crop year and your administrative 

fee was waived for one or more of those crop years because you qualified as a limited 

resource farmer under a policy definition previously in effect, and you remain qualified as a 

limited resource farmer under the definition that was in effect at the time the administrative fee 

was waived.

9(e) Except as provided in section 9(f), in the states of Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North 

Dakota, or South Dakota, during the first four crop years of planting on native sod acreage that has 

been tilled and is planted to an annual crop after February 7, 2014, such acreage may be insured if 

the requirements of section 9(a) have been met but will:

(1) Notwithstanding the provisions in section 3 regarding your production guarantee, receive a 

production guarantee (per acre) that is based on 65 percent of the transitional yield for the county; 

and

(2) For additional coverage policies, receive a premium subsidy that is 50 percentage points less 

than would otherwise be provided on acreage not qualifying as native sod. If the premium 

subsidy applicable to these acres is less than 50 percent before the reduction, you will receive 

no premium subsidy.

24(a) Remove the phrase “, any portion thereof,” from this section

25 25. Correction of Errors

(a) In addition to any other corrections allowed in your policy subject to section 25(b), we may 

correct:

(1) Within 60 days after the sales closing date, any incorrect information on your application 

or provided by the sales closing date, including identification numbers for you and any 

person with an substantial beneficial interest in the you, to ensure that the eligibility 

information is correct and consistent with information reported by you to any USDA 

agency;

(2) Within 30 days after the acreage reporting date, information reported to reconcile errors 

in the information with correct information that has been determined by any USDA 

agency;

(3) Within 30 days of any subsequent correction of data by FSA, erroneous information 

corrected as a result of verification of information; and
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In lieu of 

section:

The following provisions will apply:

(Continued)

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(4) At any time, any incorrect information if the incorrect information was caused by 

electronic transmission errors by us or errors made by any agency within USDA in 

transmitting the information provided by you for purposes of other USDA programs.

(b) Corrections may be made but will not take effect for the current crop year if the correction 

would allow you to:

(1) Avoid ineligibility requirements for insurance or obtain a disproportionate benefit under 

the crop insurance program or any related program administered by the Secretary;

(2) Obtain, enhance, or increase an insurance guarantee or indemnity if a cause of loss 

exists or has occurred before any correction has been made, or avoid premium owed if 

no loss is likely to occur; or

(3) Avoid an obligation or requirement under any Federal or State law.

36(c) Each excluded actual yield will be replaced with a yield equal to 60 percent of the applicable 

transitional yield for the crop year in which the yield is being replaced, unless you qualify as a 

beginning farmer or rancher in which case the excluded actual yield will be replaced with a yield 

equal to 80 percent of the applicable transitional yield for the crop year in which the yield is being 

replaced. (For example, if you elect to exclude a 2001 crop year actual yield, the transitional yield 

in effect for the 2001 crop year in the county will be used. If you also elect to exclude a 2002 crop 

year actual yield, the transitional yield in effect for the 2002 crop year in the county will be used). 

The replacement yields will be used in the same manner as actual yields for the purpose of 

calculating the approved yield.