With all the news reports of crop quality issues in 2009, you'd think phones would be ringing off the wall at crop insurance agencies. Mississippi might be a special case, but agents I've interviewed in Iowa, Indiana and Alabama the last few days feel more like the old Maytag repairman: lonely.

Crop insurance agent Steve Tate of Huntsville, Ala., says his clients in Ala., Tenn. and Ga., have been spared the deluges Mississippi farmers experienced, but because Group 5 and 6 beans haven't matured normally, only 20 percent of the soybean crop has been harvested to date in his area. Moisture isn't a problem but he expects some kernel and quality adjustment damage claims. He pegs damage to the soybean crop at about 20 percent--enough to meet the threshold for a production adjustment on yields--but thinks growers can harvest every acre.

"Nobody's called me yet looking for an adjuster, but I expect to be popular for all the wrong reasons the longer weather delays harvest here," he says.

Quality adjustments should help his customers. The Risk Management Agency discounts "net" bushels of soybeans when kernel damage exceeds 8 percent. So a 10-11 percent damage reduces production 5.9 percent. After 35 percent damage, RMA considers what the crop would bring in cash markets, Tate adds.

Just because an elevator rejects a load of wet or damaged beans does not mean crop insurance will "zero out" your fields. "There's always a residual market for damaged beans," he says, even if it's 150 miles away and out of a grower's normal trade area. "If it's feasible to ship to that market, the insured is expected to do it." He adds. Crop insurance companies may kick in for freight, or ask a salvage buyer to pick up on farm.

Keep in mind RMA's provisions for crop quality in grains and soybeans are much improved compared to five or 10 years ago, Tate adds (an issue that spokesmen for the National Corn Growers Association confirm). What's more, RMA also adjusts your crops for moisture content, so harvesting wetter-than-normal crops could push your actual yields low enough to trigger claims. In contrast, rules on cotton quality adjustments "break your heart," he says.

Roger Schlitter, a Mason City, Iowa, crop insurance agent also reported things were "all quiet" on his front when we talked last Friday. He thinks it's too soon for northerners to really assess their losses, if any. But the office quiet could end soon: In a DTN online poll this week, one third of the 712 farmers responding expect some type of crop insurance adjustment based on poor quality and/or yields this year, and another 20 percent didn't know how things would turn out yet.

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