There are two types of crop insurance for your farm or ranch. These are multiple peril crop insurance (MPCI) and crop-hail insurance.
Multiple peril crop insurance—This coverage financially protects you from crop losses that include lower yields caused by natural events, including destructive weather (e.g., hail, frost, damaging wind), disease, drought, fire, flooding and insect damage. MPCI is federally supported and regulated. MPCI covers more than 120 different crops, but not all are covered in every region. Cornerstone Insurance Services can help you explore if an MPCI policy is appropriate for your agricultural business.
If you are interested in purchasing an MPCI policy, you must do so by the federal government’s deadlines before you plant your crops.
Crop-hail insurance—This coverage can protect high-yielding crops where hail happens frequently. Crop-hail policies aren’t part of the Federal Crop Insurance Program. Often, farmers purchase this coverage as a supplement to MPCI. These crop-hail policies often have very low or even no deductibles. Because hail can destroy portions of crops but not everything, hail claims are usually less than an MPCI policy deductible. Unlike MPCI, you can purchase crop-hail insurance at any point in the growing season.
Farmers can also purchase crop revenue insurance. This coverage can help farmers in years where they have low yields or the price of the crops is low. This policy can help farmers protect their earnings against drastic swings in crop prices, regardless of the cause.