Cottonseed insurance endorsement expands risk management portfolio

A two-year effort by Plains Cotton Growers, Inc. (PCG) to develop an all-new cottonseed insurance endorsement under the umbrella of the federal crop insurance program has cleared its final hurdle and is now ready to be offered to cotton producers throughout the Cotton Belt during the 2011 growing season.

Officially known as the Cottonseed (Pilot) Endorsement, the product will be available for purchase as an optional insurance endorsement to cotton producers (Upland or Extra Long Staple) who purchase a qualifying buy-up insurance policy of insurance on their cotton lint through the federal crop insurance program for the 2011 growing season.

The Cottonseed Endorsement is best described as a companion endorsement that extends yield-only coverage to growers who purchase a qualifying APH-based buy-up plan of insurance (Yield or Revenue) under the new Combo Policy provisions for cotton. The endorsement will not be available to growers who purchase CAT, GRIP or GRP cotton policies.

“From the start of this process in late 2008 PCG’s goal has been to do everything we could to facilitate the development of an insurance product that cotton producers can use to insure some portion of the value of the cottonseed they produce,” says PCG Executive Vice President Steve Verett.

“The best thing about this program is its simplicity,” says Weldon Melton, Edcot Gin, Edmonson, Texas. “”We have no more numbers to send in from the gin. There are no more reports.”

He says the actuarial people working on the program ‘were amazed at how close the numbers were as they marked it up.”

The program is good for cotton farmers. “It covers an income stream from cotton that has not been covered before. We’re glad it will be available in 2011,” Melton says.

 "In today's economic climate, it is great to have another tool in the toolbox for growers to use in protecting the significant economic investment they make when producing a cotton crop," says New Home, Texas crop insurance agent Gid Moore.

"Being able to insure more of the actual value of the crop you produce without necessarily having to look at moving to a higher level of coverage will be a great advantage for producers at every yield level."