In a News Release published on October 6, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced they are rolling out a new insurance option specifically for agricultural producers with small farms who sell locally.  The new Micro Farm policy simplifies record keeping and covers post-production costs like washing and value-added products.

The Micro Farm policy is offered through Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP), and it has distinct provisions that can provide more access to the program, including no expense or individual commodity reporting, which will simplify the recordkeeping requirements, and revenue from post-production costs, such as washing and packaging commodities and value-added production are considered allowable revenue.

The new policy is available to producers who have a farm operation that earns an average allowable revenue of $100,000 or less, or for carryover insureds, an average allowable revenue of $125,000 or less.

Additional information outlining the Micro Farm policy will be published in the upcoming month.  Please click on the following hyperlink to access the News Release: https://rma.usda.gov/en/News-Room/Press/Press-Releases/2021-News/USDA-Introduces-New-Insurance-Policy-for-Farmers-Who-Sell-Locally