Katelyn Walley-Stoll, Business Management Specialist and Team Leader, Southwest New York Dairy, Livestock and Field Crops Program

As you're headed out to plant this season, keep in mind the importance of accurately measuring and recording your planted acreage! Not only is it important to verify your seeding rates and anticipate your nutrient management needs, but this plays a crucial role in crop insurance for your farm.

Crop insurance is an important part of any risk management portfolio. While it might not be as exciting as driving around in the tractor, it can make all of the difference for your farm's bottom line. But, that difference can be quickly undercut with inaccurate acreage reporting.

How so? Well - if you underreport your planted acreage per unit, you could be artificially improving your crop yields! Great for yield contests, not so great for your insurance benefits. That's because indemnity payments are based off of reported production and reported yields for the total crop. Over report and you'll be paying more than you need to in premiums!

You'll want to record:

• Type of crops that were planted
• How many acres you planted of each crop
• Acres prevented from planting
• Your share you have in those crops
• Location, date planted, insurance unit
• Any and all cultural practices followed of note

The reporting deadline varies by crop, but it's important to note that you can not modify your acreage report after the deadline. You should plan to work with your crop insurance agent (find one here!) to verify, verify, and verify your acreage reports. Keep your copy of your acreage report after signing and filing with your records. Communicating closely with your insurance agent and your local USDA office will be key in keeping accurate planting data to help improve your crop production record accuracy.

This material is based upon work supported by USDA/NIFA under Award Number 2018-70027-28588.