{"id":2096,"date":"2021-05-06T14:59:14","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T14:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/?p=2096"},"modified":"2021-05-06T14:59:14","modified_gmt":"2021-05-06T14:59:14","slug":"guar-crop-insurance-usda-rma-feasibility-study-follow-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/2021\/05\/06\/guar-crop-insurance-usda-rma-feasibility-study-follow-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Guar & Crop Insurance\u2014USDA-RMA Feasibility Study:\u00a0 Follow-up"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Calvin Trostle, Extension Agronomy, TAMU Dept. of Soil & Crop Sciences, Lubbock, (806) 746-6101, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

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Last September I noted the process underway to study the potential for guar to be added as a program crop for federal crop insurance.\u00a0 That earlier report is at https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/news\/page\/2\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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USDA Risk Management Agency is currently administering a contract with Agralytica, Alexandria, VA to evaluate the feasibility of a guar crop insurance program.\u00a0 This has included face-to-face visits with farmers, documenting perils the crop may face, etc.\u00a0 Texas A&M AgriLife Extension and Oklahoma State Extension are contracted to conduct some limited variety trials in 2021 to provide plant physiological data for the feasibility study.\u00a0 Soon, guar will undergo actuarial modeling to understand projections of how financially stable a program might be.<\/p>\n

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What is Needed Now from Farmers:\u00a0 Guar Yield Data from Your Farm<\/u><\/p>\n

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The modeling process for feasibility needs more real-world data from guar farmers.\u00a0 This will help establish yield baselines.\u00a0 The yield baseline is important as it must reflect actual field production results.\u00a0 A guar crop insurance program could fail if the yield baseline is set too high or too low.<\/p>\n

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So, RMA and Agralytica need more farmer data that documents yield history by field.\u00a0 I suggest data since 2002 is acceptable because guar varieties and farming methods have not changed much.\u00a0 A farmer who can provide at least three years of data would be best.<\/u> This could be one field per year or several fields. \u00a0Yes, this might take some time to pull out records you have.\u00a0 Because guar is not a program crop there is little data to meet this need on record at FSA offices.<\/p>\n

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There is no need to select which year you pick.\u00a0 Poor yields and good yields are needed to generate information on the range of field results.<\/p>\n

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To submit your yield data, you can:<\/p>\n