Crop Insurance Policies for Citrus Growers

Abstract

To compensate growers for losses suffered due to Hurricane Irma in 2017, the USDA has put in place the Wildlife and Hurricane Indemnity Program (WHIP). As part of the requirements for receiving payments from WHIP and/or the Florida Department of Agricultural and Consumer Services (FDACS) Citrus Recovery Block Grant, citrus growers will have purchase tree and crop insurance for at least the next two seasons. This requirement seems to emphasize the trend that had started nationwide with the 2014 Farm Bill; namely, the increasing role for crop insurance as a key component of the safety net for growers. The likely intent for imposing such requirement is to reduce the need for future ad hoc disaster payments. In this article, I describe the main crop insurance policies available to citrus growers and provide examples that illustrate the calculations involved.