December 24, 2007

US offers lower insurance premiums for farmers planting Monsanto corn

In a pilot programme, US farmers in four states who plant a majority of their corn acres using Monsanto's YieldGard Plus^® with Roundup Ready^® Corn 2 or YieldGard VT Triple™ technology will be able to lower their crop insurance premiums in 2008.

USDA's Risk Management Agency announced the implementation of the Biotech Yield Endorsement, or BYE, for the 2008 crop year, according to The Farmer. 

BYE is a crop insurance feature that will lower insurance premiums for non-irrigated corn producers in the pilot states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Minnesota.

The lower insurance may be expanded to other states depending on results from the pilot programme. At this time, only Monsanto Company YieldGard triple-stack technologies are approved for the BYE program.

BYE will reduce the average cost of an insurance premium by 14 percent on revenue assurance policies. This discount will amount to more than US$2 per acre on the grower-paid portion of the premium.

To be eligible, farmers must plant at least 75 percent of their corn on an insured unit basis to corn hybrids containing YieldGard VT Triple or YieldGard Plus with Roundup Ready Corn 2 technologies.

Program details are available at www.rma.usda.gov.