Farmers reminded of deadline for reporting losses on un-harvested corn, soybeans

ANNAPOLIS, MD (December 10, 2009) – Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance reminds farmers who were unable to harvest spring-planted crops due to adverse weather to immediately file a Notice of Crop Damage with their crop insurance agent. Crop insurance policies require that notice of loss must be filed not later than 15 days after the calendar date for the end of the insurance period.

In Maryland, December 10 is the end of the insurance period for grain corn, grain sorghum and soybeans. That means farmers have until December 25 to report losses for these unharvested spring-planted crops.

Farmers should contact their crop insurance agent to report a loss, indicating that harvesting is delayed because of adverse weather, which is an insured cause of loss.  Farmers should also ask for a copy of the notice for their records and then should continue to carry out normal and customary harvesting practices, when possible.

According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, 25 percent of Maryland’s soybeans had not been harvested by December 6. Ten percent of the corn had not been harvested due to wet conditions.