RMA’s Eastern Regional Compliance Office (ERCO) is reviewing a number of insurance policies issued for fresh apple crops in multiple counties across Pennsylvania and several other states for the 2014 crop year.

The purpose of our review is to ensure Approved Insurance Providers (AIP) are verifying fresh apple production history as a prerequisite for establishing fresh apple insurability in 2014.

RMA’s 2014 Apple Crop Insurance Provisions (Apple Provisions) require policyholders to report and designate all acreage by type, and it further stipulates in paragraph 6: “if you designate fresh apple acreage on the acreage report, you are certifying at least 50 percent of the production from acreage reported as fresh apple acreage, by unit, was sold as fresh apples in one or more of the four most recent crop years in accordance with the definition of ‘fresh apple production’ and that you have the records to support such production.” 

The Apple Provisions also state “acreage with production not meeting all the requirements above must be designated on the acreage report as processing apple production.” Information specific to record acceptability can be found in the Apple Provisions and the 2014 Crop Insurance Handbook, Part 11, Sections 1, 2; Part 16, Section 2; and Exhibit 15, paragraph W.    

ERCO will determine whether policyholders are meeting the fresh apple production record requirements in a manner sufficient to support continued fresh apple coverage in 2014. AIPs — upon conducting their own reviews — will identify to ERCO all instances where supporting fresh apple production records are not adequate and result in adjustments to coverage before any claims are paid.

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Source: American Agriculturalist Greg Soulje, an agricultural meteorologist writing from Illinois

A cold, wet spring

Swinging her “Polar Vortex,” Mother Nature served-up a doozie of a winter across the U.S. Unfortunately, lingering effects of her icy wet weather swings will likely deter a more normal start to the fieldwork season across the eastern third of the nation.

Temperatures will average below normal to occasionally well-below normal throughout the heartland and at times across the Northeast and New England. So give thought now to reducing preplanting field work and about how to save time socking seed in.

Cold, wet Corn Belt and East

The precipitation outlook for early to mid-spring suggests an active pattern for the northern and eastern Plains, Midwest, Great Lakes region, Northeast, New England and the mid-Atlantic. Late-arriving warmer weather will finally improve crop growth and development.

Prospects for excessive rainfall totals look heightened and may result in periodic flooding centered in Tennessee Valley and parts of the Ohio Valley. Replanting of fields may become necessary.

The same pattern holds for the Northeast and New England. Cold air masses, while prevalent in frequency will be short-lived due to the shear lateness of the season. Not until late in the season will the area experience longer-lasting spells of more seasonal temperatures.

As for precipitation, normal to above-normal amounts — even late-season snowfall — are ahead. Fieldwork and planting delays are likely well into the season, along with an increase in spring snowmelt and run-off (flooding) issues.

Watch Corn Belt

For the Midwest and Great Lakes region and southward to the Ohio Valley, saying “it was a far different winter season compared to that of 2012-13” could be the biggest understatement of the decade. Snowfall totals for the season approached long-standing records, particularly in the eastern and northern Corn Belt.

Severe weather outbreaks also will be on the rise across much of the Midwest and Ohio Valley. Early through mid-spring moisture will raise the specter of low-land flooding and fieldwork and planting delays. Over the remainder of spring, there are signs of a general, ongoing trend of cooler-than-usual conditions, but not necessarily drier.

Signs of El Niño

Looking ahead briefly into the late spring and summer season, there are signs of a “weak” El Niño materializing. It could be a concern due to increased dryness and drought issues in the Deep South and Gulf states, along with a limited foray of tropical-oriented systems.

A re-intensification of drought may be possible on the High Plains and the Southwest. “Heat” will likely be focused in the western half of the country. “Cool” will likely dominate the eastern Plains and points eastward, along with potential for an ongoing wet pattern.

Luke Fritz is executive director of the Butler County Farm Service Agency.