In late January, the Iowa Organic Association hosted its first webinar. Thanks to support from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency, IOA was able to invite crop insurance specialist Monica Nedved and organic farmer Matthew Miller to speak about the crop insurance options available to organic farmers. Monica joined us at the Buena Vista Extension office in Storm Lake, Iowa for a forty-minute presentation and Matthew called in from his farm. Listeners joined in from around the state, asking questions about compliance, organic transition, and finding the right plans for their farms.

Throughout the presentation, Monica and Matthew addressed the following topics: Organic program basics, organic insurability, creating an organic cropping plan, certification, maintaining organic records, organic practice units, organic practice loss procedures, contract price addendum, and whole farm revenue protection. Both Monica and Matthew provided helpful links, resources, and agencies that farmers can contact if they have questions about these topics. 

Whole Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) was an important part of Monica's presentation. To see if Whole Farm Revenue Protection would be a good fit for your farm, listen to the webinar, visit the RMA’s website and read through this fact sheet. “Whole-Farm Revenue Protection provides a risk management safety net for all commodities on the farm under one insurance policy and is available in all counties nationwide. This insurance plan is tailored for any farm with up to $8.5 million in insured revenue, including farms with specialty or organic commodities (both crops and livestock), or those marketing to local, regional, farm-identity preserved, specialty, or direct markets.” 

More than twenty folks tuned in to listen to this informative talk. We hope that you also find that this is a helpful webinar! If you have questions about anything covered in the talk, please contact IOA’s Education and Outreach Coordinator, Toby Cain, at [email protected] or reach out to NAU Country Crop Insurance Specialist, Monica Nedved, at [email protected]

Do you have suggestions about topics for future webinars? Let us know! Use the comment box below.