Much like the damage caused by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Debby, Hurricane Milton also caused severe and extensive damage in Florida that has caused the local infrastructure for normal day-to-day activities to be disrupted. Due to the inability to communicate effectively and timely and limited travel in the impacted area, many policyholders aren’t able to make contact with their agent(s) to make changes to their existing crop insurance policy, purchase new coverage, or report losses within the 72-hour requirement outline in the Common Crop Insurance Policy, Basic Provisions (BP). Concerns have also been raised about the requirement to pay crop insurance premiums timely to avoid accrual of interest.

As a result, RMA has authorized several emergency procedures for AIPs to use on a case-by-case basis to assist impacted policyholders and increase the efficiency of AIP services and determinations via Manger’s Bulletin – MGR-24-007. The bulletin explains procedures in detail for loss adjustment procedures, reporting damage requirements, reporting requirements for livestock deaths, using the acreage report as determined acres for claim purposes in some situations, crops that aren’t able to be harvested, crops requested to be put to another use, crop-specific procedures, additional time to pay premiums and administrative fees, additional time to make payments for Written Payment Agreements, and written agreement procedures.

Please click the following link to read the bulletin in full detail:  https://www.rma.usda.gov/policy-procedure/bulletins-memos/managers-bulletin/2024/mgr-24-007-emergency-procedures-crops-andor.