OMAHA (DTN) -- At least some farmers in parts of the Corn Belt have been hit this month with strong storm activity that has led to a lot of localized flooding and derechos in states such as Illinois, Iowa and Missouri -- just to name a few.

That leads to more questions about crop insurance and the possibility of replanting after filing an insurance claim.

For most farmers carrying 80% revenue coverage on a planted crop, farm management advisers typically recommend letting that crop insurance policy work for you.

Farmers with losses from flooding or other storm damage should have already contacted their crop insurance agent and had an adjuster come out. Hail coverage can be paid out now, but crop insurance revenue protection policies will need to wait until production evidence is provided before an indemnity is paid out.

Not everyone is using the same product level of coverage and there are distinctions in crop insurance between optional units -- field-to-field coverage -- or enterprise units. Farmers with enterprise-unit policies are typically carrying hail coverage in addition to the revenue protection.

An insurance provider may decide it is still practical to replant a crop, but that decision often falls within 10 days of the Risk Management Agency final planting date. While final planting dates differ around the country, the window has passed for corn's late-period planting.

Farmers can choose not to plant a second crop and receive 100% indemnity on the lost production from the first crop. Another option would be to plant a second crop but not insure it. If a farmer plants a second crop on the same acres, but chooses not to insure it, then he or she still would receive 100% indemnity on the first crop. The second crop acres also would need to be reported on the acreage report as uninsured or uninsurable.

Still, seed companies increasingly are willing to provide free seed for replanting purposes. Farmers can still file a replant claim if they want. Some do so, but others simply don't want to deal with the paperwork.

THE LATE-PLANTING WINDOW

Crop insurance policies include a 25-day late-planting period. For corn, the late-planting period for most states ended in mid-June or will end by June 25.

Illinois is a split state, so the late planting date for soybeans, for instance, started June 16 in northern counties and begins June 21 in southern and central counties.

In Missouri, the late-planting period for soybeans begins July 5.

When it comes to insurance, you can replant the original crop in the late-planting period when there are 10 days or more left. At the same time, the decision to replant must be approved by a crop insurance adjuster prior to doing so.

Consult your crop insurance agent if you are unclear on your individual late-planting period.

A REPLANT SCENARIO

A farmer decides to replant a cornfield before the late-planting window and is carrying full coverage on the crop. To collect on replant coverage, the damage would have to show the field would produce less than 90% of the guaranteed yield.

A farmer with a 200 bushel per acre (bpa) Actual Production History (APH) and 80% coverage has a yield guarantee of 160 bpa. According to RMA, your scored yield after a loss must be 90% of that guarantee. So, at a 160-bpa guarantee, the 90% would come in at 144 bpa.

"So, if the estimate comes out to be 144 or less, you could qualify for replant," said Ben Brown, a senior researcher at the University of Missouri in agricultural economics.

To file a claim, you have to meet a certain threshold, which is either 20% of all of your acres that are insured in that unit, or at least 20 acres, whichever is smaller. The replant must be the same insured crop.

The replant payment for corn is the price guarantee -- $4.62 a bushel for corn -- multiplied by eight bushels, which is $36.96 an acre. The replant payment for soybeans is three bushels multiplied by $11.09, which is $33.27 an acre. The replant option is not available for Catastrophic (CAT) coverage or group-risk policies.

If a producer decides to replant the field back to the original crop, the unit would maintain the same initial plant date on the coverage and 80% guarantee even though the farmer is replanting in the late-planting period.

"The whole field still maintains that same planting insurance guarantee," Brown said. "If the corn got flooded, they will replant the acres of corn and take the $37 for replant, and that's it. That's what they do."

CHANGING CROP

A farmer in the same scenario whose field is flooded could also choose to terminate the corn and replant a second crop such as soybeans. If a farmer doesn't want to insure the soybean crop, he or she can take a 100% loss on the corn crop and get the 80% guarantee. "The soybean crop is planted, but you'd have no risk protection because you took all the risk on the corn," Brown said.

Moving insurance coverage to a second crop is a little bit tricky because a farmer is basically keeping the same policy no matter what crop they plant. A farmer can accept the full indemnity on the first crop or split it on the second crop at 65% coverage.

In that case, the farmer would get 35% of the corn guarantee upfront. At 160 bushels protected, that would be 56 bushels, multiplied by the price guarantee of $4.62 a bushel for corn for a payment of $258.72.

"Then, if there's a loss on the soybeans, we either get the higher of the soybean loss, or the remaining 65% of our corn payment," Brown said. "If there's no loss on the soybeans, we get the 65% from the corn payment."

ADJUST MATURITY GROUP, SEEDING RATE

As advisers have recommended in the past, by June 15 the risk increases for full-season soybean varieties to run into frost damage in the fall. Growers are recommended to plant varieties that are .5-1.0 maturity group earlier than their normal varieties, according to Extension educators in states ranging from Michigan to Nebraska.

Farmers in some states with more southern planting regions could continue to consider a full-season variety up until around June 25, according to Purdue University recommendations.

Agronomists also recommend that increasing seeding rates 10% to 20% for late-planting soybeans will help.

Brown noted another issue to be aware of when changing crops are the limitations of crop protection tools. It is prohibited to switch crops during a specific period of time if some herbicides have already been applied to the previous crop.

Check with your local agronomist for more specific recommendations on those adjustments.

PLANTING A COVER CROP

After taking insurance, farmers can also plant a cover crop. In 2021, USDA's Risk Management Agency changed its rules to allow farmers who take a prevented planting payment can hay or graze their cover crops and still receive 100% of the payment. At the same time, there are rules about taking a payment and the cover crop being viewed as a second cash crop if it is harvested for grain or seed. Once again, check with your crop insurance adjuster about the specific rules for planting, harvesting or grazing a cover crop after filing a claim.

Farm Credit Services of America also addresses some frequently asked questions about late planting and replanting crops: https://www.fcsamerica.com/….

Ohio State University on late planting and agronomy: https://agcrops.osu.edu/….

Iowa State University Provisions on delayed planting and crop insurance: https://www.extension.iastate.edu/….

Chris Clayton can be reached at chris.clayton@dtn.com

Follow him on social platform X @ChrisClaytonDTN

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