United States 

Department of 

Agriculture A Risk Management Agency Fact Sheet 

Prevented Planting Insurance Provisions: 

Drought 

June 2009 

Program 

Aid 2019 

Drought and Prevented Planting 

Prevented planting is a failure to plant an insured crop 

with the proper equipment by the final planting date 

designated in the insurance policy’s Special Provisions or during the late planting period, if applicable. 

Final planting dates and late planting periods vary by 

crop and by area. Producers should refer to the policy 

provisions or contact their crop insurance agent for 

more information. 

The Crop Provisions for each crop specify whether 

prevented planting is available. Crop insurance 

policies with prevented planting provisions provide 

valuable coverage to producers when drought 

prevents planting on non-irrigated acreage, or results 

in an inadequate irrigation water supply for irrigated 

acreage. Because farming is complex, eligibility for 

a prevented planting payment must be determined on 

a case-by-case basis. However, the following 

provides a general overview. 

Prevented planting payments may be made when on 

the final planting date there is not a reasonable 

expectation of having adequate irrigation water 

available, and the reduced amount of water is a result 

of an insured cause of loss (such as drought) that 

occurred during the insurance period. 

The prevented planting guarantee for most crops is 60 

percent of the production guarantee for timely planted 

acreage (65 or 70 percent if available and elected by 

the sales closing date). For both Crop Revenue 

Coverage and Revenue Assurance policies (with the 

Fall Harvest Price Option), final prevented planting 

payments are based on the Fall Harvest Price. There is 

no prevented planting coverage under Group Risk 

Plan (GRP) or Group Risk Income Protection (GRIP) 

insurance policies. 

Carryover and New Policyholders

Producers who had an insurance policy the prior 

year (carryover policyholders) are eligible for 

prevented planting payments if the insured cause of 

loss occurred after the sales closing date for the 

previous crop year, provided insurance was in force 

continuously since that date, and all other prevented 

planting requirements are met. New policyholders are 

eligible for prevented planting payments if the insured 

cause of loss occurred after the sales closing date for 

the current crop year, and all other prevented planting 

requirements are met. 

For example, the corn sales closing date is March 15, 

2009, for the 2009 crop year. An insured cause of 

loss occurs on or after March 15, 2009. For the 2009 

crop year, a new policyholder or a carryover policyholder could be eligible for a prevented planting 

payment for the 2009 crop year. However, if a cause 

of loss that prevents planting in 2009 occurred 

between March 15, 2008, and March 14, 2009, only 

the carryover policyholder would be eligible for a 

prevented planting payment. 

Eligibility for Prevented Planting 

Payments

The key factor in determining eligibility is the amount 

of irrigation water expected to be available on the 

final planting date. If you have irrigated crops, you 

may be eligible for prevented planting payments if: 

 You do not plant by the final planting date or 

during the late planting period (if applicable), because 

there is not a reasonable expectation of having 

adequate water to carry out a good irrigation practice 

as a result of an insured cause of loss occurring within 

the insurance period; or 

 You can plant only a portion of your irrigated 

acreage because there is not a reasonable expectation 

of having adequate water for all of your irrigated 

acreage. In this case, any remaining acreage you were 

unable to plant due to lack of irrigation water may be 

eligible for a prevented planting payment. 

Which Crops Are Covered Under 

Prevented Planting?

Prevented planting coverage is available for: barley, 

buckwheat, canola/rapeseed, corn, cotton, ELS cotton, 

dry beans, dry peas, flax, grain sorghum, green peas, 

hybrid seed corn, hybrid sorghum seed, millet, 

mustard, oats, onions, peanuts, popcorn, central and 
 

 

 

southern potatoes, northern potatoes, processing 

sweet corn, processing beans, rice, rye, safflowers, 

silage sorghum, soybeans, sugar beets, sunflower 

seeds, and wheat. To find out if your crop can be 

insured for prevented planting in your county, 

contact your insurance agent. 

Prevented Planting for Irrigated Acreage 

Prevented planting payments may be made for 

irrigated acreage when, on the final planting date 

(or within the late planting period if the producer 

elects to plant during such period), there is not a 

reasonable expectation of having adequate water 

available due to an insured cause of loss (such as 

drought) during the insurance period. 

Should I Plant? 

Producers should base their decision about whether or not to plant on agronomically sound and 

well-documented drought management practices. 

Producers may choose to: 

 Plant fewer irrigated acres, based on amount of 

adequate irrigation water available; 

 Plant and report the acreage without adequate 

water as non-irrigated, if a non-irrigated practice 

is available for the crop in your county;
 

 Not plant the acreage if adequate water is not 

available and claim a prevented planting payment; 

or 

 Plant and report the acreage as uninsurable if a 

non-irrigated practice is not available for the crop 

in the county. 

Keep Good Documents

Good documentation is key to receiving prevented 

planting payments. Because prevented planting 

claims depend on the amount of adequate irrigation water expected for the year ahead, producers 

should keep all documentation regarding how 

much water they will receive for the crop year, 

and any justifications provided for reductions in 

the allocation. Producers should work with their 

approved insurance provider to determine what 

documentation is needed for their specific 

prevented planting claim. Documentation may 

also be available from local water authorities 

including: 

 The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation 

 The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

 USDA’s Cooperative State Research, 

Education, and Extension Service 

 USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation 

Service 

To be eligible for prevented planting, producers 

must be able to verify a prolonged period of 

drought. Sources that record and study weather 

conditions include the National Weather Service’s 

local weather reporting stations. 

Prevented Planting for Non-Irrigated 

Acreage

To be eligible for prevented planting for nonirrigated acreage due to drought, the area that is 

prevented from being planted must, on the final 

planting date (or within the late planting period if 

the producer elects to plant during such period), 

have insufficient soil moisture for germination of 

seed or progress toward crop maturity due to a 

prolonged period of dry weather. Prolonged 

precipitation deficiencies must be verifiable using 

information collected by sources that record and 

study weather conditions including, but not limited 

to, the National Weather Service’s local weather 

reporting stations. 

Common Misconceptions

Misconception: Prevented planting coverage does 

not pay you when you incur a loss. 

Fact: From 2001 through 2008, prevented planting 

payments totaled over $2.9 billion nationwide. 

Amounts paid in any given year depend on actual 

conditions, but have been as high as $550 million 

in 2001. 

Misconception: Producers are not covered when a 

drought causes a shortage of irrigation water. 

Fact: Crop insurance policies specifically address 

failure of an irrigation water supply. If failure of 

the irrigation water supply occurs before the 

producer plants and the failure is the result of an 

insurable cause of loss during the insurance period, 

the acreage will be eligible for prevented planting. 

Misconception: If you are prevented from planting 

because of a lack of irrigation water, you must 

plant and insure the crop on a non-irrigated basis. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fact: There is no requirement in the crop insurance 

policy to plant any crop on acreage you cannot 

plant because of lack of irrigation water. 

Misconception: No payment will be made if a water 

provider stops providing water to producers after 

insured crops have been planted in order to provide 

water for recreational purposes such as fishing. 

Fact: If water is diverted due to an insured cause of 

loss (such as drought) and occurs during the 

insurance period, you may be eligible for insurance 

payments on the insured acreage. You must have 

had a reasonable expectation of receiving sufficient 

irrigation water to carry out a good irrigation 

practice on the planted acreage at the time of 

planting. If a portion of the diversion is due to an 

insured cause of loss and a portion is due to 

uninsured causes, only the portion attributable to 

insured causes will be paid. 

Misconception: If continued drought is predicted, 

you should plant all or none of your insured crop. 

Fact: Crop insurance policies do not require you to 

plant or not plant your crops. Those decisions are 

solely up to you and depend upon your unique 

circumstances. 

Misconception: Prevented planting does not cover 

you in multi-year drought conditions. 

Fact: Prevented planting covers drought, including 

multi-year droughts. However, coverage is limited 

to losses caused by the effects of drought in the 

current crop year. Multi-year droughts could 

reduce the amount of acreage qualifying for 

prevented planting if the amount of irrigation water 

available in a previous crop year could not be 

replaced, based on normal weather in the insurance 

period. Only the acres that could have been 

irrigated under normal weather conditions during 

the insurance period are eligible for prevented 

planting in the current crop year. For carryover 

policyholders, the insurance period for prevented 

 planting begins on the sales closing date for the 

 previous crop year as long as insurance has been 

 in force continuously since that date. For new

 policyholders, the insurance period for prevented 

 planting begins on the sales closing date for the 

 current crop year.

 Misconception: Once a prevented planting 

 payment is made for any acreage, payment cannot 

 be made on the same acreage in a succeeding year. 

Fact: Prevented planting covers insured perils 

 occurring within the insurance period. You may be 

 eligible for prevented planting if drought 

conditions continue into the next crop year. 

 For More Information 

Prevented planting handbook: 

http://www.rma.usda.gov/handbooks/25000/2008/08_25370-1h.pdf 

Agent locator: http://www3.rma.usda.gov/apps/agents/

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http://www.rma.usda.gov/pubs/rme/fctsht.html 

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