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 2023
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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) information on the availability of organic price elections for the 2023

crop year; 2) 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 3) a summary of our progress in establishing organic price elections and alternative options 

for organic coverage. This is the tenth annual report to Congress on the progress of implementing 

organic price elections. 

Progress in Implementing Organic Price Elections

For the 2023 crop year, RMA will offer 84 distinct organic price elections; only 18 crops do not 

currently receive an organic price election2. These crops do not currently have an organic price 

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

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“Organic price election” refers to organic crops that receive a price election that is greater than the conventional 

price election. Organic crops that do not receive an organic price election are still insurable at conventional price 

election values, even if a premium price above that of the conventional practice is not available. 

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

the Actual Revenue History plan of insurance, Whole Farm Revenue Protection, nursery, clams, livestock policies, 

privately developed 508(h) submissions (other than caneberries, the cottonseed endorsement, and hemp), and crop 

policies that require a contract to determine a price are not considered. For those commodities identified as having 

an organic price, it does not mean RMA offers an organic price for all types and locations. 

 Regarding privately developed submission, section 508(h) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act allows private parties 

to develop insurance products (commonly referred to as 508(h) Submissions), including: crop insurance policies, 

provisions of policies, or 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 developers 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.
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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. 

For the 2023 crop year, crops without an organic price election are: alfalfa seed, canola, chile 

peppers, various tobacco crops3, forage seeding, limes, peppers, processing apricots, processing 

freestone peaches, sugar beets, tangors, and various tree crops4. However, RMA anticipates that 

with additional data contained in the most recent organic survey (released December 2022)

conducted by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and funded by RMA, organic 

prices for both processing apricots and processing freestone peaches will be available for the 

2024 crop year. 

Funding NASS Surveys to Obtain Organic Data

NASS has completed seven organic surveys (2008, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019, and 2021). 

RMA has funded four of these, providing NASS a total of $6 million to complete them. These 

surveys provide comprehensive organic information and assist RMA in setting accurate organic 

price elections.

Additional Crop Insurance Options for Organic Producers

Contract price option offered under the Contract Price Addendum

The contract price option was offered beginning with the 2014 crop year and 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. The 

contract price option is available for most crops and allows producers to use their personal 

contract price as their price election or choose existing crop insurance price elections.

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. Previously, this 

insurance plan allowed insurance 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. In response to 

industry feedback, this limit increased to $17 million in 2022. All certified organic commodities 

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

requirements.

Production and Revenue History (PRH)

In 2020, RMA finalized development of and implemented a new plan of insurance, Production 

and Revenue History (PRH), which is designed to better handle commodities with less data, 

including organic agriculture. PRH uses the producer’s personal production and revenue history 

3 Cigar filler tobacco, cigar wrapper tobacco, and fire cured tobacco.

4 All other citrus trees, carambola trees, lemon trees, lime trees, and mango trees.
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to establish a yield-based guarantee valued at what the producer has historically been able to 

obtain for their production. In so doing, PRH overcomes the lack of price data that hinders 

RMA’s ability to improve and expand organic price elections.

RMA initiated PRH for strawberries in Florida for the 2021 crop year and in California for the 

2022 crop year. RMA awarded a contract to develop PRH policies for fresh market sweet corn, 

fresh market tomatoes, and peppers; development for those crops is ongoing. Peppers is a crop 

for which RMA does not yet have an organic price election. The current insurance plan for 

peppers requires cost of production information to operate, and no organic cost of production 

information in the locations peppers are currently insured is available. The availability of PRH 

will generate organic coverage for peppers. Development of PRH for cherries began in 2023. 

Micro Farm

The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 Farm Bill) directed RMA to conduct research 

and development of a policy to insure production of local foods. In June 2020, RMA contracted 

with a third party to assess the feasibility of insuring local food production. The conclusion and 

primary recommendation provided from the third party was that modifying the WFRP plan of 

insurance was the simplest and quickest way to improve access to coverage for local food 

producers. In response, RMA developed and implemented the Micro Farm Provisions as part of 

the WFRP plan of insurance for the 2022 policy year.

Micro Farm is designed for small, diverse farms that sell locally. Initially, the program allowed 

approved revenue up to $100,000. In response to industry feedback, this limit was increased to 

$350,000 in approved revenue. The policy simplifies recordkeeping and covers post-production 

costs like washing and value-added products; this was a key request from stakeholders to make 

crop insurance more useful to smaller growers.

Outreach and Education

Throughout the year, RMA staff engaged in public outreach to educate and interact with

producers about organic crop insurance options and to gather feedback about existing programs. 

In 2022, RMA attended approximately 50 industry conferences and grower meetings, presenting 

information about organic coverage, including RMA’s new Transitional and Organic Grower 

Assistance (TOGA) Program. These events ranged from large, national events such as The 

Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service (MOSES) to local growing season 

observation visits with individual organic producers across the country. Most notably, the RMA 

Administrator visited Organic Valley, where she highlighted RMA’s TOGA program and 

outlined the $300 million USDA pledged to support organic growers and those transitioning to 

organic.

RMA also has leveraged external partners as through its 2022 Risk Management Education 

Partnerships with the following: (1) Iowa Organic Association ($81,600 award), to deliver 

approximately educational programs to approximately 17,000 Iowa beginning and organic 
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producers regarding strategies for organic certification and production; (2) The Gleaning 

Network of Texas ($91,200 award), to provide targeted risk management assistance to more than 

100 direct-marketing producers in northern Texas, with an emphasis on specialty crop growers, 

small and urban farms, and organic producers; and (3) Organic Trade Association ($150,000 

Award), to provide educational materials on crop insurance for organic farms, such as videos, 

online courses, podcasts and webinars, to thousands of producers across nineteen states. 

Transitional and Organic Grower Assistance Program (TOGA)

Agricultural producers who have crop insurance coverage on crops in transition to organic or a 

certified organic grain or feed crop are eligible for premium assistance through RMA’s

Transitional and Organic Grower Assistance (TOGA) Program. TOGA reduces the producer’s 

overall crop insurance premium bill and helps them continue to use organic agricultural systems. 

TOGA is part of USDA’s Organic Transition Initiative, a group of programs that build more and 

better markets for American growers and consumers and improve the resilience of the food 

supply chain. There is no enrollment paperwork, and the premium assistance will automatically 

apply for the 2023 reinsurance year, which covers applicable policies with sales closing dates 

from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023. 

For crops in transition to certified organic, producers can receive 10 percentage points of 

premium subsidy; for certified organic grain and feed crops, producers can receive $5 premium 

assistance per insured acre; and for WFRP policies with crops in transition or certified organic 

crops, producers can receive 10 percentage points of premium subsidy. In addition to the WFRP 

benefit, producers who have additional individual crop insurance policies will also receive the 

applicable premium benefit on those policies.

Additional Flexibility 

During COVID-19, RMA provided flexibilities to producers and Approved Insurance Providers 

(AIPs) to allow them to complete these tasks while supporting their health and safety. RMA 

learned from this experience that many of these flexibilities could be made permanent to 

alleviate unnecessary burdens on farmers. 

Prior to 2020, crop insurance policy required producers with certified organic acreage, or acreage 

in transition to organic, to have written certification or written documentation from a certifying 

agent showing an organic plan is in effect for the acreage by the acreage reporting date. A

certificate and plan must be in place each year to qualify for organic or organic transitional 

practices. In addition to flexibilities granted to all crop insurance participants, for organic 

producers specifically, RMA granted the ability to report acreage as certified organic, or as 

acreage in transition to organic, when they certify they have requested a written certification or 

other written documentation from a certifying agent on or before the acreage reporting date.

RMA made this change permanent, recognizing that it is helpful for both organic producers and 
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certifying agencies because organic certification does not necessarily happen in unison with crop 

insurance dates and cycles. 

Conclusion

RMA’s efforts to increase organic price elections has resulted in tremendous growth in organic 

crop insurance participation. Since 2013, the number of organic and transitional acres insured

increased 278 percent while liability increased 540 percent (see chart below). 

Creating and maintaining organic price elections is dependent upon data availability. Organic 

price data that meets RMA standards for these crops is 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. Availability of such data has generally not increased 

over time. Therefore, RMA has proactively taken steps to create an insurance policy, PRH, that 

generates prices for insurance offers using producers’ own revenue history, thereby ensuring 

accurate organic price coverage. Micro Farm was also developed and initiated for the 2022 

policy year. To ensure organic data availability, RMA has also funded many organic surveys 

conducted by NASS.

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.