Dave Bau, Phyllis Bongard and Liz Stahl- University of Minnesota Extension
“To plant or not to plant” is a challenging question for farmers this year who have faced an extremely wet spring. For crop insurance purposes, May 31 is the final planting date for corn and June 10 for soybean in southern Minnesota. The final planting date has already passed for northern Minnesota corn producers (May 25). Growers are allowed to plant a crop within 25 days of the final planting date for reduced insurance coverage. The following examples show how different decisions could play out.
Scenario 1: Choose not to plant and take prevented plant
If you choose to take prevented plant for corn, there is a simple payment rate of $4.00 per bushel multiplied by your APH and your insurance coverage percentage. This equals your revenue guarantee per acre. To calculate your prevented planting payment for corn, the guarantee is multiplied by 55% (unless you paid a higher premium for a more coverage). For soybean, the payment rate is $9.54 per bushel, and the standard prevent plant rate is 60% of the guarantee.
Scenario 2: Plant a crop late
You decide to plant, but what crop will you plant? The yield potential for corn planted after mid-May declines fairly rapidly. For corn planted June 9, yields were reduced by 21-31% in long-term University of Minnesota research. In addition to yield potential losses, insurance coverage declines by 1 percent per day after the final planting date.
The full report can be found at https://blog-crop-news.extension.umn.edu/2019/05/prevented-planting-decisions.html