Featured News

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it is expanding crop insurance options with a new Grapevine insurance program, which will provide coverage for loss of grafted vines caused by natural perils such as freeze or fire. The new program also will complement the Grape crop insurance program that covers the fruit growing on the vine. August 31, 2023

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it is improving crop insurance options for small and diversified farmers through improvements to the Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WRFP) and Micro Farm insurance plans. These updates are part of USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) efforts to increase participation and access to crop insurance. August 31, 2023

The USDA's Risk Management Agency (RMA) announced in a Manager's Bulletin announcement (MGR-23-004) on July 21, 2023, that they are aware of concerns about the requirements to pay crop insurance premiums timely in order to avoid accrual of interest. NAU Country will waive interest on Crop-Hail and Named Peril policies until December 1, 2023. A note will be added to the August, September, and October 2023 billing statements informing insureds of this action. In addition, the deferral of interest has no impact on any debt termination dates, as those still must be adhered to, regardless of this bulletin. August 01, 2023

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) wants to remind producers that the application deadline for the Emergency Relief Program (ERP) Phase Two and Pandemic Assistance Revenue Program (PARP) is July 14, 2023. The original deadline was June 2, 2023. July 13, 2023

In a recent press release, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that they are expanding insurance coverage options for specialty crops and other actual production history (APH) crop programs. The Risk Management Agency (RMA) will expand the availability of enterprise units to crops where they were previously unavailable, giving agricultural producers greater options to manage their risk. July 07, 2023

In a recent press release, the USDA announced corrections to the Emergency Relief Program policy to more accurately reflect 2020 and 2021 natural disaster impacts on crops intended for on-farm use (including grapes grown and used by the same producer for wine production or forage that is grown, stored and fed to livestock, that do not generate revenue directly from the sale of the crop). In addition, duplicative payment provisions for two key conservation programs are also clarified. The deadline to submit applications for ERP Phase Two is July 14, 2023. June 22, 2023

NAU Country President Jim Korin recently provided commentary to Insurance Business Magazine on how crop insurance and farmers may have been impacted by the recent Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) crisis. June 21, 2023

In a press release published today, highlights are shared from NAU Country Insurance Company's President Jim Korin’s compelling testimony at a recent hearing with the United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry-Subcommittee on Commodities, Risk Management, and Trade. May 25, 2023

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced plans to roll out $3.7 billion in Emergency Relief Program (ERP) and Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP) assistance to crop and livestock producers who sustained losses due to a qualifying natural disaster event in calendar year 2022. USDA is sharing early information to allow producers time to gather documents in advance of program delivery. Through distribution of remaining funds, USDA is also concluding the 2021 ELRP program by sending payments in the amount of 20% of the initial ELRP payment to all existing recipients. May 22, 2023

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack appointed two new members of the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) Board of Directors, which oversees the Federal crop insurance program available through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Chris Bardenhagen and Howard James will serve four-year terms beginning this month on the board, which guides USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) on administering crop insurance. May 18, 2023