WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith announced that today the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA) is extending deadlines on crop insurance policies due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
USDA is authorizing Approved Insurance Providers (AIPs) to provide policyholders additional time to pay premium and administrative fees and to waive accrual of interest. In addition, USDA is authorizing AIPs to provide up to an additional 60 days for policyholders to make payments and waive additional interest for certain agreements. More information from USDA available HERE.
In April, Klobuchar, Smith and Senators John Hoeven (R-ND), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), and over 30 bipartisan colleagues sent a letter to Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, urging the Administration to ensure the continuity of our country’s food supply and to support rural areas during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic by providing needed relief to farmers.
“Americans always depend on our nation’s farmers to grow the food, fuel, and fiber that we all need, but that reliance becomes much more pronounced in times of crisis. We appreciate the Department’s recognition of the challenges facing farmers and the announcement made by FSA on March 26, 2020, to provide flexibility for those repaying farm loans. These actions will help alleviate cash flow concerns as producers make important business decisions for their operations. We respectfully ask that you provide us with additional information as to how the Department plans to communicate these flexibilities to producers, the criteria that the Department will consider when determining whether a producer receives temporary payment deferral or forbearance, and how long these extensions will be in effect for producers responding to loan servicing actions,” the senators wrote in the April letter.
