Acreage Reporting Reminders
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We have compiled important reminders, tips and resources to assist agents in completing the acreage reporting process. For additional assistance, please contact your AgriSompo representative.  

Please note: these guidelines do not replace the handbooks or provisions. 

Key deadlines

  • 30 days after the acreage reporting date, for processing agencies. 

  • 10 days after the acreage reporting date, for non-processing agencies. 

Source documents

  • A source document is what you used at the time you and your insured filled out the acreage report.  Scan in your source document with your acreage report.   

  • This could help later should there be a keying error or discrepancy.

Common Land Unit (CLU) keying requirement 
  • 100% of insurable acres must be reported and keyed by CLU. 

  • Full CLU information needs to be listed on the acreage report. 

  • This requirement can be met using any of our acreage reporting forms. 

Added land

  • Added land is ground new to the farming operation. 

  • Added crop P/T/V is ground that has been previously farmed by the operation but has a new crop/practice/type/variety. 

  • The cropland acreage limitation categories for added land and new crop/P/T are: 

  • Added land less than 2,000 acres = use higher of SAT or T-yield. 

  • Added land of 2,000 acres or greater = use T-yield. 

  • Identify added land on the acreage report. SAT must be requested if that is what your customer wants, and they qualify as a separate basic or optional unit. 

  • If the insured adds ground to a section they already farm, do not create a new unit for the new ground. You will add the acreage in with the existing fields. 

Native sod

  • Native sod is acreage that has never been tilled or which the insured cannot prove was previously tilled for production of an annual crop on or before February 7, 2014. 

    • Any native sod acreage tilled prior to February 7, 2014, will not be subject to the reduction in benefits, regardless of when the native sod acreage is planted. 

  • Acreage is considered native sod when more than five acres are tilled in the county, cumulatively across crop years. 

    • Cumulative native sod acreage fewer than five acres in the county is considered de minimis (DM) and will NOT receive any reduction in benefits. 

    • Cumulative native sod acreage greater than five acres will receive reduction in benefits. 

  • The RMA has added new headings to the information within the Crop Insurance Handbook (CIH) and General Standards Handbook (GSH) to clarify which Farm Bill applies (2014 or 2018). 

2014 Farm Bill procedures for native sod

  • Native Sod acreage tilled from February 8, 2014 – December 20, 2018, will continue to follow the provisions of the 2014 Farm Bill. 

  • Acreage is considered native sod until it has four crop years of planting. 

2018 Farm Bill procedures for native sod

  • These procedures apply to native sod tilled beginning December 21, 2018, for the production, of an insured crop. 

  • Acreage is considered native sod until the acreage has four crop years (insurance years for Whole Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) of an insured crop within the first 10 crop years after initial tillage. 

  • Native sod procedures now apply to all insurable crops and all insurance plans. 

  • Any crop year in which a crop is insured on the native sod acreage under an additional coverage policy will count toward fulfilling the four crop years of an insured crop. 

  • Catastrophic Risk Protection (CAT) coverage does not count as a crop year of insurance toward the four crop years of an insured crop. 

  • A combination of annual, perennial and biennial crops may be utilized to fulfill the first four crop years of an insured crop. 

  • Prevented planting acres will count toward fulfilling the four crop years of an insured crop. 

  • The native sod designation applies when more than five acres are tilled cumulatively across crop years (insurance years for WFRP) for the production of an insured crop beginning December 21, 2018, in all counties in the native sod states. 

  • If a producer tilled five native sod acres or fewer under the 2014 Farm Bill and tilled additional native sod acres under the 2018 Farm Bill so that the cumulative native sod acres exceeded five acres, the 2018 Farm Bill procedures apply. 

Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)/New Breaking

  • New Breaking requests for native sod and New Breaking must be turned in on or before the Acreage Reporting Date for New Breaking acreage, to be insurable. 

  • Acreage emerging from CRP is insurable using the county T-yield. 

  • Must have a separate database for the initial year. In AgriNet you have the ability to set these units so that they will combine into an existing unit the next crop year. 

Unit number/Unit Structure

  • Please make sure the units are numbered correctly and reflect the unit structure the insured elected as well as how they have reported production. 

  • An insured can now have enterprise units by irrigation practice in which they have EU elected for one practice and OU/BU for the other practice. This would have been elected at Spring Closing Date (SCD). 

  • An insured can now have Enterprise Units by Type (ET) where they have EU elected for one type, i.e. Spring/Winter Wheat, different types of Dry Beans, etc., and OU/BU for the other practice. They may also have EU elected for all types. 

  • If EU, ET (Enterprise Units by Type) or EI (Enterprise Units by Practice) is elected but fails to qualify: 

    • Specify on the acreage report -  BU, OU or one EU in a situation where the acres do not qualify for EI or ET. 

  • If a unit structure is not specified on the acreage report, the insured could potentially have BU assigned for the crop. 

Multi-County Enterprise Unit

  • MCEU allows a producer to combine acreage of an insured crop, by irrigation practice, and if applicable, in two contiguous counties in the same state into one enterprise unit. 

  • To qualify for a MCEU, one county must qualify independently for an enterprise unit and the other county must not qualify for an enterprise unit. 

  • Both county crop policies in the MCEU must be with the same Approved Insurance Provider (AIP). 

  • MCEU must be elected on the application for both counties. Both counties must also have the same elections for insurance plan, coverage level and enterprise unit or enterprise unit by practice. 

  • The election combines all insured acreage of the crop (or all insured acreage of the irrigation practice if enterprise unit by practice is elected) in both counties into a single enterprise unit. 

  • Premium, guarantee and liability will be calculated separately for each county based on the acres physically located in that county and using the actuarial documents for that county. 

  • The enterprise unit premium discount will be determined by using the total acres contained in the MCEU. 

  • Primary and secondary counties will need to be indicated on the Acreage Report. 

Qualifying acres for EU/EI/ET/EC/EO

  • Once acres are keyed and saved on a policy, AgriNet will automatically figure the correct unit structure. 

  • If a policy does not automatically qualify for the correct unit structure, please contact your underwriter as some policies may need additional verification or disqualification. 

Late Planting/Prevented Planting/High Risk

  • For processors, when keying, AgriNet will automatically copy lines after they are finalized if there are acres on one unit that fall in different categories (timely planted, late planted, prevented, high risk, etc.). 

    • High risk ground with a different T-yield than non-high-risk ground will need a different Actual Production History (APH) database. 

    • High risk ground with the same T-yield as non-high-risk ground will have the same APH database. At this time, you will need to copy the APH database to get the correct rates to apply to both high risk and standard ground. 

Prevent Plant (PP) acres: 

Please be sure to report all PP acres on the acreage report. Simply filing a PP claim is not considered reporting those acres and it is nearly impossible for us to accept a revised acreage report adding PP acres after the deadline. 

Replants

Use the initial plant date, not the replant date. 

Uninsurable/Uninsured acres

  • All acres must be reported on the acreage report, including uninsurable and uninsured. Failure to report uninsurable and uninsured acres will lead to that production being counted against the guarantee of reported acres if there is a claim for the crop year in question. 

  • For processors, AgriNet will automatically copy lines after they are finalized if both insurable and uninsurable acres are on the same unit. 

High risk and unrated acres

  • Please pay close attention and make sure your insureds are reporting High Risk and Unrated Acres in order to correctly calculate yields and premium. 

    • Three options to determine whether ground is high risk or unrated: 

    • RMA Mapping through the Actuarial Information Browser 

    • AgriNet Mapping 

  • Crop Insurance Management System (CIMS) 

    • Options for insuring High Risk Land (HR Land): 

    • Written Agreement 

    • HR Land Exclusion Option 

  • HR Land Actual County Experience (ACE) policy 

    • Options for Unrated Land: 

    • Written Agreement (WA) is needed for land to be insurable 

    • If no WA is done, acreage is uninsurable 

  • RMA has been known to request unpaid high-risk premium when land was reported at the incorrect risk rating. 

Practice/Type

If the insured has multiple practices or types listed for a crop, please ensure that all acres are looked at and listed correctly on the acreage reports.   

No longer farming units

  • Do not delete any lines at acreage reporting. 

  • Go to the Acreage tab and use the drop-down box labeled Uninsurable and select “No Longer Farming”. 

Insuring landlord/tenant share

  • Verify that all supporting documents are uploaded through the Document Management system and keyed correctly in AgriNet. 

  • Identify the unit in Field Name (e.g. "insuring LL/T share"). 

  • Processing Example: Tenant is insuring the landlord’s share. The landlord has a 50% share, and the tenant has a 50% share. On the tenant’s acreage report you would list 100% and in the Acreage tab towards the bottom left you can add Shareholder underneath the Farmer/Landlord Shareholders section. Your underwriter can help you should you still have questions. 

Conservation compliance

  • Insureds have until the premium billing date to file an AD-1026 with the Farm Service Agency (FSA). 

  • If an insured does not have an AD-1026 on file, they may qualify for an exemption. This exemption can only be used for their first-year farming and they will need to get an AD-1026 filed at FSA going forward. 

  • If an insured is not compliant, they will not receive any premium subsidy. 

  • Please verify with your insured that they have an AD-1026 on file with FSA with the same name and Tax ID number that was used to set up their crop insurance policy. 

Field crossing section lines

ALL legal descriptions must be reported on the unit if the field actually crosses into another section, even if it is only by an acre.   

Fields crossing county lines

If you have an Area Risk Protection Insurance (ARPI) policy, you must report the acres in the county in which they are actually located. For an individual policy, you can choose in which county you want to report that field. 

Contracts/Processor Agreement

  • Contract Price Addendum (CPA) must be elected by the Sales Closing Date (SCD). 

  • Agents need to refer to the Special Provisions for the deadlines. 

  • The contract price can only be used if CP is available for that specific practice and type. 

  • All contracts must be uploaded through the Document Management system by Acreage Reporting time. 

  • If a contract is not submitted, the projected price will be used. 

  • Sugar beets require a Processor Agreement to be turned in by the acreage reporting date. Acres will not be verified without that agreement. 

Malting Barley Endorsement (MBE) 
  • The MBE option must be elected by the SCD. 

  • The insured must provide the AIP with copies of all contracts on or before the acreage reporting date applicable for the insured acres. Failure to provide at least one contract by the acreage reporting date requires that all planted acres be insured under the terms of the Small Grains Crop Provisions without the additional coverage provided by MBE. 

  • Eligible contracts include a malting barley contract, malting barley price agreement or a malting barley seed contract. The contract must specify the amount of contracted production, the purchase price or a method to determine such price; and establish the obligations of each party to the agreement. 

Organics

To insure as certified organic and transitional organic practices, the basic provisions (BP) state an insured must provide the following on or before the ARD: 

1. For certified organic acreage: a current organic system plan and a written certification (an organic certificate) or documentation the insured has requested, in writing, a WA or other written documentation from a certifying agent. 

2. For acreage in transition to certified organic: an organic system plan or documentation from a certifying agent indicating an organic system plan is in effect for the acreage or written documentation that the insured has requested an organic system plan or other written documentation from a certifying agent 

If the insured certifies that a written certification has been requested on or before the ARD, the certificate must be provided prior to coverage ending. 

3. An updated organic certificate is not required on or before the ARD when: 

  • The certifying agent has not inspected the certified organic farming operation for the current crop year. In this case, the insured must provide the most current effective organic certificate with the claim notice. 

  • The certifying agent did not reissue an organic certificate to the certified organic farming operation when the organic system plan was updated. Changes to the farming operation must be identified on the current crop years organic system plan. 

4. If the insured: 

  • Is a new insured or an insured transitioning acreage to certified organic with an organic system plan receives an organic certification after the ARD, the acreage must be insured under the transitional practice, unless they provide written documentation on or before the ARD that a written certification has been requested and will be in effect prior to coverage ending. 

  • Is a new insured or an insured transitioning acreage without an organic system plan and receives a written certification after the ARD, the acreage must be insured under the conventional practice for that crop year. 

  • Has certified organic acreage with an organic certificate, but the organic certificate was not reissued when the organic system plan was updated; the most current organic certificate is considered valid. 

 

Effective Date: The date when the current or initial certifying agent first certified the farming operation. 

Issue Date: The issue date of the certificate 

Anniversary Date: The date by which a certified operation must submit its annual update paperwork to maintain its certification. It is a deadline for the operation to ensure its ongoing compliance with organic standards. 

  

Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) with Stacked Income Protection Plan (STAX)
  • The insured may elect both the SCO Endorsement and STAX for upland cotton if the eligibility requirements are met for both programs, however, the insured cannot insure the same acreage under both the SCO Endorsement and STAX. If the underlying policy is ARPI or a standalone STAX policy, the SCO Endorsement is not available for the insureds upland cotton.
  • The insured must provide a production report for the underlying policy for the preceding year by the STAX SCD. AgriSompo will use the production report to establish the insured's APH database(s). The insured must designate the acreage that applies for SCO and STAX on each APH database. The insured is required to sign and date the APH database certification. The insured may identify on the STAX applications whether SCO or STAX coverage applies to any acreage added to the operation that will require a new APH database. If no designation is made, the acreage will be covered under SCO.
Signatures

See Exhibit 4 in the General Standards Handbook (GSH) for information on signature(s) required by Person Type.