USDA’s Risk Management Agency (USDA-RMA) has over 230 specialty crops to consider when writing programs for U.S. farmers in all 50 states. As you can imagine, a one-size-fits-all policy may not fit for everyone. As a result, they have developed individual crop insurance programs for over 70 specialty crops, and we’d like to add sod to that list. TPI has been working with USDA-RMA to develop a new specialty crop insurance program for turfgrass producers and has met with their staff in Washington, DC and at several regional offices throughout the U.S. TPI was successful in getting sod approved as a specialty crop by the Federal Crop Insurance Board, which is the first step in creating any new crop insurance program.
TPI scheduled visits with USDA-RMA staff to turfgrass sod farms in Crosby and Bay City, Texas on July 16-18th to visit with Texas growers. They were interested in seeing sod farms first-hand, learning about common production practices, marketing, types of grasses, local weather-related perils, and any other items that may impact a future crop insurance plan for our industry. Later this fall, we’ll be visiting farms in the northeast U.S. to allow USDA-RMA staff to visit northern, cool-season regions of production. If you have any questions or comments about this ongoing project, or would be willing to host us for a visit, please contact me at 800-405-8873 or creynolds@turfgrasssod.org.
You can read more about this ongoing project in the September/October issue of Turf News magazine.
