Adverse weather conditions this spring have resulted in late plantings across much of Illinois. While a great deal of progress was made the last couple of weeks, there are still fields that have not been planted, making future cropping decisions critical.
"Farmers who have not planted on fields scheduled for corn have three options -- Plant corn whenever it becomes possible, plant soybeans, or take a 'prevented planting payment,'" explains Gary Schnitkey, University of Illinois agricultural economist.
Under the plant corn anyway option, Schnitkey says farmers should expect corn yields to be lower than corn planted in a timely fashion. He adds that insurance guarantees will be lower if an APH, CRC, or RA insurance policy has been purchased and the final planting date has been reached. The final planting date is June 5 for most of Illinois and May 31 for the seven southern most counties in Illinois.
If a farmer decides to plant soybeans, expected yields have not been reduced as much as for corn.
"Also, insurance guarantees for APH, CRC, and RA insurance policies will not be reduced until the final planting date has reached June 15 for northern Illinois and June 20 for southern Illinois," adds Schnitkey.
If farmers choose to take "a prevented planting payment" under a APH, CRC, and RA insurance policy, the prevented planting payment is 60% of the guarantee offered by the insurance policy.
"Farmers should consult with their insurance agents, as there are rules to follow to insure prevented planting payments," concludes Schnitkey.
These important cropping decisions are discussed in a recent Farmdoc posting (www.farmdoc.uiuc.edu/manage/newsletters/fefo09_10/fefo09_10.html). This website includes a "FAST tool" -- a spreadsheet developed to aid in evaluating the three alternatives.