Each new year in the farming industry brings new hope and excitement for timely rains, great production, and hopefully, healthy commodity prices at harvest time. However, as we all experienced in 2024, the volatility of the weather patterns, South America’s growing corn & soybean production as well as the roll coaster of harvest prices, created a very tight profit margin this past year in the farming industry.
Looking into 2025, we are still seeing increasing seed prices, fertilizer prices staying high, land rents steadily climbing, and farm values increasing. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a product that will not only help guarantee you a certain level of coverage if you’d have a production loss as well as guarantee you a dollar amount per acre for a revenue loss? Look no further, Revenue Protection is the product for you!
Here in Maryland, a lot of my farming friends and clients experienced a summer like no other! We went from excessive moisture with slug damage requiring replants or delayed planting to excessive heat & drought conditions within about a 45-day window. This stressed the corn & early soybeans tremendously and ultimately really effected the yields are harvest. Thankfully we received some late summer rains, which helped the later planted soybeans, but the damage was already done on the early planted crops. Then to make matters worse, these rains created sprouting issues & mold/quality issues to the early crops. So, with many of our clients already were facing questionable yields, then we started to see commodity prices really tank.
This is where the Revenue Protection crop insurance plan really goes to work!
Revenue Protection is there for potential production losses as well as revenue losses. The plan offers available levels of coverage from 50% up to 85%. Your past production history is utilized and helps establish the trigger point in coverage. If you do not meet your production guarantee, then a production loss claim is paid out. However, what happens if your production is just good enough to not have a production loss? Well, this is where the revenue feature comes into play. The revenue coverage is the dollar amount you are guaranteed by your production trigger point x the sales closing projected price.
For example, in Maryland last year, Soybeans were set at $11.64/bushel at sales closing in March. By the time the final harvest price was announced on Dec 1st, it had dropped to $9.99/bushel. This created the potential for a sizeable revenue payment despite not having a production loss. This feature alone makes Crop insurance with the Revenue Protection plan a great option that needs to be part of your normal farm operation input cost for 2025. If you’ve never considered crop insurance or potentially have not had this discussion with your current crop insurance agent, please reach out. I’d welcome the opportunity to discuss your farming operation and assess how I can be a valuable partner & resource going forward!
You spend your life dedicated to your farm. Let’s work together to make sure you are properly insured going forward. Reach out to Ryan Wiles today to learn more.