The slowest crop harvest in 30 years has many Corn Belt growers playing high-stakes poker: If they harvest a wet crop now with more than 30 percent moisture, they're socked with drying costs than can run 60 cents per bu. and up on corn. If they delay until weather dries the crop in the field, they are responsible for any additional quality or yield losses once their coverage officially expires December 10.

It's a difficult balancing act given 2009's abnormal weather, but to prevent fraud, crop insurance has a "get 'er done" mentality, with rewards for those who do and penalties for those who don't.

Some DTN readers worry that they will bear all the burdens of harvesting a wet crop, but Michelle Bouchard, a Risk Management Agency public affairs specialist in Washington, D.C., confirms that while RMA doesn't compensate for drying costs, it does compensate for high moisture, adjusting yields for anything above 15 percent for corn regardless of grade level. Growers also receive some consideration for quality factor adjustments--such as test weight, frost damage, and non-mycotoxin diseases on Grade 5 and worse, or U.S. Sample Grade grain. (See my earlier post on quality compensation for kernel damage).

But unless RMA designates an exception due to extraordinary rainfall or other weather event by the cut off dates, adjusters' hands are tied on enforcing that end of coverage date on December 10.

"Incentives in crop insurance are for producers to do everything they can to get harvest done," says Roger Schlitter of Roger's Farm Financial, a crop insurance agent and consultant in Mason City, Iowa. While he sympathizes with the stress his farm clients are under from those guidelines, "as a taxpayer, I couldn't support any less than that."

In some parts of the Mississippi Delta, growers have received more than 25 inches of rain in the past month, and agronomists report catastrophic soybean losses on many fields at 20 percent to 90 percent. At those loss levels, crop insurance is bound to kick in for many growers depending on the type of insurance they purchased.

Schlitter says none of his customers along the Iowa-Minnesota border have asked for an adjuster to assess crops for damage from white mold or other disease problems, and so far test weights are running within the norm for No. 2 Yellow Corn. He estimates that only about 10 percent of the crop is harvested in his territory, too little to make any realistic assessments about whether they might ultimately trigger a claim based on low yield, test weight or quality problems. His advice is for Midwest growers is to slog through harvest as best they can, and "to take a deep breath" if they feel a panic attack coming on.

If harvest drags on until the New Year, an adjuster must assess any crops left unharvested after Dec. 10 and then determine if a grower had a loss situation or not for 2009 production. Crop insurance will settle up, based on that assessment.

"Say your average on those standing fields was 165 bu., No. 2 Yellow Corn. If you didn't harvest it until next spring and lost 35 bu. over the winter, you'd be responsible for that portion," Schlitter says.

In some extreme cases, such as North Dakota's notorious 2008 blizzard, RMA allowed growers to postpone harvest until the following spring. The agency could give growers extra time to harvest, but Bouchard only says that they may or may not enforce the December 10 date. "We know farmers can only do the best that they can do" under the circumstances, she says.

RMA's recommendation: Alert your crop insurance agent to any damage to crops as soon as you notice it, and verify exactly what your policy covers.

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