Pasture, Rangeland & Forage (PRF)

The Pasture, Rangeland, Forage (PRF) Insurance Program is designed to provide insurance coverage on your pasture, rangeland, or forage acres. This innovative pilot program is based on precipitation, Rainfall Index. This program is designed to give you the ability to buy insurance protection for losses of forage produced for grazing or harvested for hay, which result in increased costs for feed, destocking, depopulating, or other actions.


Rainfall Index

Rainfall Index (RI) is based on weather data collected and maintained by NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. The index reflects how much precipitation is received relative to the long-term average for a specified area and timeframe. Additional information on NOAA CPC’s interpolation and quality control process can be found in NOAA CPC’s Conceptual Description Paper.



The Rainfall Index uses National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Prediction Center (NOAA CPC) data and each grid is 0.25 degrees in latitude by 0.25 degrees in longitude, which translates to approximately 17 x 17 miles at the equator. You must select at least two, 2-month periods where precipitation is important to your operation. These periods are called index intervals.


Your insurance payments are determined by using NOAA CPC data for the grid(s) and index interval(s) you have chosen to insure. When the final grid index

falls below your “trigger grid index”, you may receive an indemnity. This insurance coverage is for a single peril, lack of precipitation. Coverage is based on the experience of the entire grid. It is not based on individual farms or ranches or specific weather stations in the general area.


You are not required to insure all your acres, but you cannot exceed the total number of grazing or haying acres you operate. The program provides protection while allowing you to insure only those acres that are important to your grazing program or hay operation. By selecting a productivity factor, you can establish a value between 60 and 150 percent of the county base value and match the amount of your protection to the value of forage that best represents your specific grazing or hay operation.


WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW?


The deadline to sign up for PRF is November 15th of each year. You will be asked to make several choices when insuring your grazing or hay production, including coverage level, index intervals, irrigated practice, productivity factor, and number of acres. You should work with us to view the Grid ID Locator map and index grids for your area, and assign acreage to one or more grids based on the location and use of the acreage to be insured. RMA also encourages you to use the Grid ID Locator, historical indices tool, and decision support tools available on RMA’s website to help you decide whether PRF is the right insurance coverage for your operation. The rainfall index does not measure your direct production or loss. You are insuring a rainfall index that is expected to estimate your production. Please review the historical indices tools for your grid along with past production records to determine if these programs will work for your operation and which periods work best for your forage production.


Contact us today to request a quote.

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