–Abnormally high rainfall extended planting season beyond reporting deadline–
Jefferson City, Mo. – Attorney General Chris Koster filed a federal lawsuit today against Tom Vilsack, the United States Secretary of Agriculture, seeking to compel the USDA to accept acreage reports from Missouri farmers—a prerequisite for obtaining crop insurance—beyond the normal deadline. Koster alleges in the suit that the farmers’ planting seasons have shifted much later into the summer than normal as a result of the heavy rainfall Missouri has experienced. As a result, many farmers are unable to meet the deadline USDA set for farmers to file their reports.
“Missouri farmers rely on the availability of insurance to guard their crops against events beyond their control,” Koster said. “The USDA should not punish farmers whose planting was delayed by unexpected rain and flooding by enforcing an arbitrary deadline. Millions of dollars in Missouri agriculture is at risk, and we will fight to make sure these resources are protected.”
The USDA requires farmers to report their planted acreage each year by a fixed deadline. For farmers in northwest Missouri, the deadline is July 15. But due to the rainfall over the past two months, which caused flooding so severe that the Governor declared a state of emergency, many farmers were unable to plant their crops in time to get accurate acreage reports filed, even taking into account the five-day grace period the USDA normally allows.
In the suit, filed in federal court in the Western District of Missouri, Koster argues that extraordinary circumstances posed by the storms and flooding require the USDA to allow a reasonable extension of the normal grace period so that farmers are able to provide accurate acreage reports and qualify for crop insurance.
