In July, the Biden Administration announced the Department of Agriculture would expand insurance coverage for double cropping in 2023, making it easier for American farmers to grow more food and help combat the food shortages and rising costs due to the “COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions, and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.”
In Maryland, double cropping is common among farmers. This policy will give Maryland farmers automatic insurance coverage for double cropping sorghum for grain and soybeans in many counties.
Double cropping is when a farmer plants several crops in the same area and in the same crop year to produce more than one crop per year. The expanded coverage for double cropping means the risk of raising two crops on the same land in one year will be reduced. Crop insurance is normally sold to farmers through private crop insurance agents.
The USDA’s Risk Management Agency is in charge of this expansion to over 1,500 counties where double cropping is viable, including 681 counties for soybeans and 870 counties for sorghum. These counties were determined through “analysis of climate data, agronomic requirements, existing insurance availability, and historical double cropping acreage data,” according to the USDA.
The agency will also work with crop insurance companies and farm organizations to help highlight the option for double cropping for any farmer in written agreements outside where the policy is automatically offered.
According to Paul Goeringer, a senior faculty specialist and extension specialist for the University of Maryland Agricultural Department, double crop insurance has always been available in Maryland, but accessibility depended on your history of written agreements, which can be complicated.
He also said Maryland is a big participant in cover crop programs, which involves planting another crop to recycle unused plant nutrients in the soil from the previous summer crop and protect the land against wind and water erosion. Many Maryland farmers will plant wheat in the winter as a part of these programs, but not harvest it for product.
“I think by providing better risk management coverage, we’re going to encourage producers to at least plant crops that can be used for food,” Goeringer said.
The insurance expansion coverage in Maryland includes 11 counties for wheat and 22 counties for soybeans.
James Lewis, the University of Maryland extension agriculture agent for Caroline County, delivers university research and resources to farmers in the area, specializing in field crops and production practices. He said they’ve been double cropping in the county for 50 years.
“We grow wheat or barley. We plant it this time of year, harvest it in June and July, plant soybeans beans after that, harvest those in November,” Lewis said.
Lewis also said that the county he works in has not been doing anything new since the legislation change. He did note that the incentive to double crop depends on the price of wheat, and that there was an incentive to crop this year because the price of wheat has risen.
The Maryland Department of Agriculture helps make Maryland farmers aware of these expanded opportunities through outreach programs, according to Hans Schmidt, the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Resource Conservation.
“In this particular case, it’s not something that we administer, but what we do is we do outreach to farmers to say ‘Hey, you know, if you’re growing crops it’s a good idea to get coverage and protect yourself,’” Schmidt said.
The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service conducts a Census of Agriculture every five years to provide agricultural data for farmers, companies and legislators to make informed decisions about U.S. farming practices. This data allows us to take a glance about how farming in Maryland has changed over the past 10 years.
Trends in Maryland soybean and sorghum production have mirrored production on a national level.
The double cropping policy was finalized this fall so farmers can begin taking action by planting a winter crop, meaning we will start to see the effect of the policy in 2023.
Goeringer noted that the expansion covers a lot of counties in the Southeast and Midwest that have a history of double cropping.
“On a national level, it’ll be seen quickly,” he said. “I think we’re going to see a lot more uptick in those areas where they’ve been streamlining the written agreement process, which could always be a deterrent to some producers not wanting to get the crop insurance coverage.”