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“Top-up” payments could help in place of WHIP+

The just-announced “top-up” crop insurance payment might be a solution for farmers not in declared disaster areas that weren’t able to plant crops.

Secretary Sonny Perdue heard from one Michigan farmer during his Thursday visit from a county where 35 percent of crops couldn’t be planted but hasn’t been declared a disaster area.

“We don’t qualify apparently right now for WHIP.  I don’t know if we’ll be designated in that or not, it doesn’t sound very promising and there’s a lot of producers that did not plant, that did not receive the money that are wondering how are we going to survive?”

Perdue replied that $3 billion to cover hurricane, wildfire and prevented plant damages to farmers will be stretched.

“We’re doing our best to determine where that was, the percentages, and that the disaster declarations be there—Presidential or Secretarial, and frankly, we’re trying to be a liberal as we can.”  

USDA later that day announced automatic 10-15 percent bonus payments to farmers with prevented plant claims which will be separate from the Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus program.