Frequently Asked Questions

Prevented Planting - Irrigated Cropland Eligibility and Drought

Feb 15, 2012

The Topeka Regional Office has received a number of questions concerning irrigated prevented planting eligibility due to drought for producers who use groundwater for irrigation.

Q. How does my Kansas Department of Agriculture - Division of Water Resources Drought Emergency Term Permit for 2011 affect my eligibility for 2012 irrigated crop coverage?
A: Under current crop insurance policies and procedures, to insure cropland as irrigated, you must apply at the appropriate times the quantity of water needed to produce at least the yield used to establish your irrigated production guarantee or the amount of insurance on the irrigated acreage planted to the insured crop.

If you chose to use a portion of your 2012 water allocation for 2011, then your total acres of irrigated insurability would be reduced accordingly for 2012. Acreage for the 2012 crop year that could have otherwise been irrigated with water from your 2012 authorized quantity, but will not due to your management decision to borrow water to complete your 2011 irrigation water needs, would not qualify for prevented planting coverage. Such acreage would not qualify because loss of the available irrigation water was due to a management decision, not an insured cause of loss.

If you intend to apply less water than used to establish your irrigated practice production guarantee or amount of insurance on the irrigated acreage planted to the insured crop, regardless of the reason (e.g. you borrowed 2012 water to save 2011 crop), you have the following options:

• apply the amount of water needed to produce the irrigated production guarantee or amount of insurance on a reduced number of acres and report the remaining acres as non-irrigated;
• apply less water to the total acreage than used to establish your irrigated production guarantee or the amount of insurance on the irrigated acreage and report the total acreage as non-irrigated.

Q: Am I eligible for prevented planting coverage if I have my normal allocation of irrigation water available but my soil moisture is depleted?
A: If you normally irrigate a certain number of inches to grow a crop, you may need to make up the depleted soil moisture conditions with additional irrigation water. Although you may have the same overall allocation as you had in the past, you may not be able to show that you can produce the yield upon which your guarantee is based using that same amount of water.

The Policy states that you must have adequate water and facilities at planting time to produce at least the yield upon which your irrigated production guarantee is based (the APH yield). In making this determination you must consider the soil moisture, available irrigation water and assume average precipitation during the growing season. Comparing the total of these 3 sources to past water use or published research data regarding water use requirements for the crop being planted should allow you to determine if you have adequate water. If you can establish that because of soil moisture depletion that occurred due to an insured cause of loss within the insurance period, your normal irrigation water allocation and normal precipitation through the growing season would not be adequate to raise your APH yield for an irrigated practice, you may be eligible for prevented planting coverage for those acres.

Q: I normally apply a few inches of irrigation water to my winter wheat and also plant irrigated sunflowers following harvest of my wheat crop. Due to depleted soil moisture conditions and continued lack of precipitation, I had to apply more than normal water on my wheat. This left me with less than adequate supply for my sunflowers.

1. Are my sunflowers insurable as irrigated?
   A: The Policy states that you must have adequate water and facilities at planting time to produce at least the yield upon which your irrigated coverage is based (the APH yield). If, after reviewing the three elements cited in Question 2, and comparing to average precipitation throughout the growing season, it is determined there is not enough irrigation water to produce the sunflower irrigated approved yield, the irrigated sunflower acres must be reduced to the amount of acres that can be adequately irrigated. The remaining acres could not be reported and insured as non-irrigated because insurance is not available on non-irrigated sunflowers following a wheat crop that has been harvested.
2. Can I claim a prevented planting guarantee on the sunflower acres I cannot report as irrigated?
   A: If the producer had an insurance policy for sunflowers during the 2011 crop year, a prevented planting guarantee may be available on the double cropped sunflower acres. The insured must provide double-cropping history that meets the policy requirement for establishing double-cropping history.
   

   See Common Crop Insurance Policy Basic Provisions Section 17(f)(ii).

Contact Information

For more information, contact the Topeka Regional Office.