RMA 2023 Accomplishments

RMA 2023 Accomplishments (PDF) | Text

• $207 billion insured value in 2023. 67% increase since 2013.
• Largest farm safety net program in USDA
  • Insured 539 million acres. 83% increase in past 10 years.
  • Protected 41.7 billion pounds of milk, 5.5 million head of cattle, and 36.5 million head of swine. 35% increase for milk. 9,000%+ increase for swine and cattle since 2019.
• $19.8 billion in losses paid for 2022 crop year.

• 5 new crop insurance programs: kiwifruit, grapevine, oysters, controlled environment, and weaned calf.
• 8 major modifications such as Margin Protection program expansion, Annual Forage program flexibilities, expansion of enterprise units for specialty crops, and tropical storm protection option for Hurricane Insurance Protection-Wind Index policy.
• 2.6 million acres increase for fall wheat & 1 million acres increase for following another crop soybeans and grain sorghum in Double Cropping initiative.

• $6.5 million in Risk Management Education partnerships awarded. 200% increase from previous year.
• 200K stakeholders engaged in 600+ events.

• 2.64% improper payment rate to ensure program integrity. 9th consecutive year with improper payment rate under 3%.
• 90% of RMA employees responded in the 2023 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) that they adapt to changing priorities and consider customer needs a top priority.
• 85% of employees said they are highly motivated, engaged, and satisfied with their jobs and the agency.

• Tropical Storm Option (TSO) to Hurricane Insurance Protection-Wind Index endorsement in 1,010 counties. 60% of eligible policies elected TSO.
  • Hurricane Idalia: $71 million in tropical storm and $85 million in hurricane indemnities were paid to growers.
  • Hurricane Ian: $201 million in hurricane indemnities paid.
• Grapevine insurance program to provide coverage for loss of grafted vines caused by natural perils.
• Kiwifruit insurance program to provide actual production history (APH) coverage for kiwifruit in 12 counties in California.
• Pomegranate insurance program covering weather perils and quality losses in 8 counties in California. Program recognizes different utilization values for fresh fruit, arils, and juice.
• Shellfish Actual Production History-Price Component (APH-PC) program for container-grown oysters commercially cultivated for fresh half shell market. Available in 28 counties in 12 states.
• Controlled Environment program to insure urban, specialty crop, organic, and other producers who grow in fully enclosed controlled environments in 127 counties in 25 states.
• Weaned Calf Risk Protection program for beef cow-calf producers to insure revenue from spring calving operations in 509 counties in 4 states.
• Offered premium benefits in Transitional and Organic Grower Assistance Program (TOGA):
  • 10 percentage points of premium subsidy for all crops in transition
  • $5 per acre premium benefit for certified organic grain and feed crops
  • 10 percentage points of premium subsidy for all Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) policies covering any number of crops in transition to organic or crops with the certified organic practice.
• Expanded and streamlined insurance offers for double cropping soybeans and grain sorghum making insurance more available in over 1,500 counties.
  • Demand for written agreements for coverage increased over 800%.
  • Insured fall wheat acreage increased 16%, or 2.6 million acres in eligible area.
  • Following Another Crop (FAC) soybeans and grain sorghum increased by 48%, or 1 million acres.
• Issued 80 offers for a new relay cropping practice under Double Cropping Initiative. Relay cropping is a climate smart practice in which a second-planted crop is planted into an established crop where the crops are planted in a manner that allows separate agronomic maintenance and harvest of the crops.

• Increased Margin Protection insurance to an additional 1,255 counties for soybeans and 1,729 counties for corn.
• Provided Annual Forage program flexibilities. Producers can elect acres and 12 growing seasons.
• Offered Quality Loss Option (QLO) for 7 specialty crops: avocadoes (California only), blueberries, cranberries, grapes, peaches, stone fruit, and table grapes.
• Expanded availability of enterprise units to 17 additional crops: alfalfa seed, buckwheat, cabbage, cultivated wild rice, ELS cotton, flax, fresh market tomatoes, forage production, grass seed, millet, mint, mustard, onions, potatoes, processing tomatoes, safflower, and sesame.
• Offered additional flexibilities for Pistachio program including insurance coverage for producers with fewer than four years of production records to use transitional yields and clarifying simple average approved yield and variability adjustment requirements.
• Expanded coverage for oil types in Olive program. Updated oil conversion factors and allowed for contract pricing on oil type olives.
• Provided additional improvements to Whole Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) program allowing producers to qualify for 80% and 85% coverage level and purchase catastrophic coverage level policies for individual crops. Made policies more affordable.
• Added flexibilities for Micro Farm policyholders to purchase other crop policies and providing coverage for vertically integrated producers.
• Worked with Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) to utilize NOP’s INTEGRITY database certificate as an acceptable organic and transitional record.

• Engaged with 200,000 stakeholders across 600+ separate events including conferences, career fairs, industry meetings and other events.
• Awarded $6.5 million to 22 partners to train and educate underserved producers, specialty crop growers and ranchers on a variety of risk management strategies and topics. Reaching underserved producers on variety of risk management topics.
• Listening sessions on proposed Prevent Planting changes in 12 states and virtually. Engaged with +600 stakeholders and received 591 written individual comments.
• 6 in-person and 2 virtual listening sessions to address comments and get feedback to the proposed changes in the Apple crop insurance program. Engaged with +500 stakeholders.
• Authorized flexibilities as natural disaster struck across the country. Offered interest deferral relief to policyholders.
• Provided relief to over 300 producers facing financial hardship to ensure they can remain in the crop insurance program.

• 2.64% improper payment rate to ensure program integrity. 9th consecutive year with improper payment rate under 3%.
• 7th consecutive year complying with all USDA sampling procedures for high-risk programs.
• Performed AIP Performance Reviews for three participating approved Insurance Providers (AIPs).
• Developed individual company improper payment rates for 14 AIPs to allow for greater accountability.
• Recovered $11.06 million in program funds using comprehensive compliance casework activities and extensive data mining.
• Supported prosecution efforts to recover $1.39 million in civil restitution and $2.18 million in criminal restitution.
• Identified $348,000 in Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) fraud and worked with Farm Service Agency (FSA) to recover funds.
• $120 million plus in expected cost avoidance savings. 6x the annual salary costs of all compliance staff.

• Monitored all AIPs quarterly.
• Modernized payment system for livestock claims to be consistent with crop claims.
• Migrated key crop insurance systems to the cloud. Enabled regional offices to complete 14,000 individualized insurance coverage policies (“written agreements”) totaling $1.5 billion in liability. 88% of users reported satisfaction with new user interface and faster processing time.
• Initiated a 2-year cooperative support agreement with Oregon State University to add weather and climate data production capacity to enhance agency capabilities to address underserved and under monitored areas in Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Alaska. Initiative will develop specific weather-related information for these geographic areas to improve uniform application of standards and performance goals across the Federal crop insurance program.