Title 7

SECTION 457.132

457.132 Cranberry crop insurance provisions.

§ 457.132 Cranberry crop insurance provisions.

The cranberry crop insurance provisions for the 1999 and succeeding crop years are as follows:

FCIC Policies Department of Agriculture Federal Crop Insurance Corporation Reinsured Policies (Appropriate title for insurance provider) Both FCIC and Reinsured Policies Cranberry Crop Provisions

If a conflict exists among the policy provisions, the order of priority is as follows: (1) The Catastrophic Risk Protection Endorsement, if applicable; (2) the Special Provisions; (3) these Crop Provisions; and (4) the Basic Provisions with (1) controlling (2), etc.

1. Definitions

Barrel. 100 pounds of cranberries.

Harvest. Removal of the cranberries from the bog.

Market price. The cash price per barrel of cranberries offered by buyers in the area in which you normally market the cranberries.

2. Unit Division

Provisions in the Basic Provisions that allow optional units by section, section equivalent, or FSA farm serial number and by irrigated and non-irrigated practices are not applicable. Optional units may be established only if each optional unit is located on non-contiguous land, unless otherwise allowed by written agreement.

3. Insurance Guarantees, Coverage Levels, and Prices for Determining Indemnities

In addition to the requirements of section 3 (Insurance Guarantees, Coverage Levels, and Prices for Determining Indemnities) of the Basic Provisions (§ 457.8):

(a) You may select only one price election for all the cranberries in the county insured under this policy.

(b) You must report, by the production reporting date designated in section 3 (Insurance Guarantees, Coverage Levels, and Prices for Determining Indemnities) of the Basic Provisions (§ 457.8):

(1) Any damage, removal of vines, change in practices, or any other circumstance that may reduce the expected yield below the yield upon which the insurance guarantee is based, and the number of affected acres;

(2) The age of the vines; and

(3) Any other information that we request in order to establish your approved yield.

We will adjust the yield used to establish your production guarantee as necessary, based on our estimate of the effect of the removal of vines, damage, change in practices, and any other circumstance that may affect the yield potential of the insured crop. If you fail to notify us of any circumstance that may affect your yields from previous levels, we will adjust your production guarantee as necessary at any time we become aware of the circumstance.

4. Contract Changes

In accordance with section 4 (Contract Changes) of the Basic Provisions (§ 457.8), the contract change date is August 31 preceding the cancellation date.

5. Cancellation and Termination Dates

In accordance with section 2 (Life of Policy, Cancellation, and Termination) of the Basic Provisions (§ 457.8), the cancellation and termination dates are November 20.

6. Insured Crop

In accordance with section 8 (Insured Crop) of the Basic Provisions (§ 457.8), the crop insured will be all the cranberries in the county for which a premium rate is provided by the actuarial documents:

(a) In which you have a share;

(b) That are grown for harvest as cranberries;

(d) That are grown on vines that have completed four growing seasons after the vines were set out, unless otherwise provided by the actuarial table or by written agreement.

7. Insurance Period

(a) In accordance with the provisions of section 11 (Insurance Period) of the Basic Provisions (§ 457.8):

(1) Coverage begins on November 21 of each crop year, except that for the year of application, if your application is received after November 11, but prior to November 21, insurance will attach on the 10th day after your properly completed application is received in our local office, unless we inspect the acreage during the 10 day period and determine that it does not meet insurability requirements. You must provide any information that we require for the crop or to determine the condition of the bog.

(2) The calendar date for the end of the insurance period for each crop year is November 20.

(b) In addition to the provisions of section 11 (Insurance Period) of the Basic Provisions (§ 457.8):

(1) If you acquire an insurable share in any insurable acreage after coverage begins but on or before the acreage reporting date for the crop year, and after an inspection we consider the acreage acceptable, insurance will be considered to have attached to such acreage on the calendar date for the beginning of the insurance period.

(2) If you relinquish your insurable share on any insurable acreage of cranberries on or before the acreage reporting date for the crop year, insurance will not be considered to have attached to, and no premium or indemnity will be due for, such acreage for that crop year unless:

(i) A transfer of coverage and right to an indemnity, or a similar form approved by us, is completed by all affected parties;

(ii) We are notified by you or the transferee in writing of such transfer on or before the acreage reporting date; and

(iii) The transferee is eligible for crop insurance.

8. Causes of Loss

(a) In accordance with the provisions of section 12 (Causes of Loss) of the Basic Provisions (§ 457.8), insurance is provided only against the following causes of loss that occur during the insurance period:

(1) Adverse weather conditions;

(2) Fire, unless weeds and other forms of undergrowth have not been controlled or pruning debris has not been removed from the bog;

(3) Wildlife;

(4) Earthquake;

(5) Volcanic eruption;

(6) Failure of irrigation water supply, if caused by an insured peril that occurs during the insurance period; or

(7) Failure or breakdown of irrigation equipment or facilities due to direct damage to the irrigation equipment or facilities from an insurable cause of loss if the cranberry crop is damaged by freezing temperatures within 72 hours of such failure or breakdown and repair or replacement was not possible before damage occurred.

(b) In addition to the causes of loss excluded in section 12 (Cause of Loss) of the Basic Provisions (§ 457.8), we will not insure against damage or loss of production due to:

(1) Disease or insect infestation, unless adverse weather:

(i) Prevents the proper application of control measures or causes properly applied control measures to be ineffective; or

(ii) Causes disease or insect infestation for which no effective control mechanism is available; or

(2) Inability to market the cranberries for any reason other than actual physical damage from an insurable cause of loss specified in this section. For example, we will not pay you an indemnity if you are unable to market due to quarantine, boycott, or refusal of any person to accept production.

9. Duties in the Event of Damage or Loss

In addition to the requirements of section 14 (Duties in the Event of Damage or Loss) of the Basic Provisions (§ 457.8):

(a) If you discover damage, or if you intend to claim an indemnity on any insured unit, you must give us notice of probable loss:

(1) At least 15 days before the beginning of any harvesting, or

(2) Immediately if probable loss is discovered after harvesting has begun.

(b) You must not sell or dispose of any damaged production until the earlier of 15 days from the date of notice of loss or when we give you written consent to do so.

(c) If you fail to meet the requirements of this section, and such failure results in our inability to inspect the damaged production, all such production will be considered undamaged and included as production to count.

10. Settlement of Claim

(a) We will determine your loss on a unit basis. In the event you are unable to provide separate acceptable production records:

(1) For any optional unit, we will combine all optional units for which such production records were not provided; or

(2) For any basic unit, we will allocate any commingled production to such units in proportion to our liability on the harvested acreage for each unit.

(b) In the event of loss or damage covered by this policy, we will settle your claim by:

(1) Multiplying the insured acreage by its respective production guarantee;

(2) Multiplying the result of section 10(b)(1) by the price election;

(3) Multiplying the total production to be counted, (see section 10(c)) by the price election;

(4) Subtracting the total in section 10(b)(3) from the total in section 10(b)(2); and

(5) Multiplying the result in section 10(b)(4) by your share.

(1) All appraised production as follows:

(i) Not less than the production guarantee per acre for acreage:

(A) That is abandoned;

(B) Damaged solely by uninsured causes;

(D) Destroyed or put to another use without our consent;

(ii) Production lost due to uninsured causes;

(iii) Unharvested production; and

(iv) Potential production on insured acreage that you intend to abandon or no longer care for, if you and we agree on the appraised amount of production. Upon such agreement, the insurance period for that acreage will end. If you do not agree with our appraisal, we will use the appraised amount of production or defer the claim if you agree to continue to care for the crop. We will then make another appraisal when you notify us of further damage or that harvest is general to the area unless you harvested the crop, in which case we will use the harvested production. If you do not continue to care for the crop, our appraisal made prior to deferring the claim will be used to determine the production to count; and

(2) All harvested production from the insurable acreage.

(3) Harvested production which, due to insurable causes, is determined not to meet the United States Standards for Fresh Cranberries if available, or would not meet those standards if properly handled, or does not meet the quality requirements of the receiving handler if the United States Standards for Fresh Cranberries, if not available, and such harvested production has a value less than 75 percent of the market price for cranberries meeting the minimum requirements will be adjusted by:

(i) Dividing the value per barrel of such cranberries by the market price per barrel for cranberries meeting the minimum requirements; and

(ii) Multiplying the result by the number of barrels of such cranberries.

11. Late and Prevented Planting

The late and prevented planting provisions of the Basic Provisions are not applicable.

[62 FR 5905, Feb. 10, 1997, as amended at 62 FR 65172, Dec. 10, 1997]