Preparing for a Crop Insurance Audit

Judging from the way the crop looks, there will be a lot of crop insurance claims this year. If you have spoken with your crop insurance agent, and you expect that your indemnity payment, based on the policy you purchased, could amount to over $200,000 per crop per county, it's a good idea to prepare to be audited. That amount of projected payout puts you on their radar screen for a high dollar audit.

Your crop insurance agent can help you with the process, but what you need is three years of production records, starting with 2011 production and then going back to 2010 and 2009. All of your grain production needs to be accounted for. You need records for how much you sold, how much you delivered to the elevator and how much you fed. It's best to be prepared with all three years of records.

If you were just audited last year, you get a break and the adjuster will only ask for records connected to 2012 production.

Make it easy on the auditor. Records should be well labeled. Use your FSA farm number, include the farm name. Make sure your records are identifiable by the location, including the legal description and the section number.

Consider that the whole process will go faster if this work is done ahead of time and that means the indemnity check will arrive sooner. The more records that you keep, the easier the process will be. Keep in mind that there will be a lot of claims this year. That means adjusters will be busy and focused on the farmers who are ready to complete the process. How quickly you get attention from the adjuster depends on just how ready you are.

Here's how it works. You turn in the claim. The adjuster will be in touch and then you'll need to contact them and your agent once harvest is complete. Let them know that you're finished and ready. If you are ready, the adjuster will come out and the process will be quick. If you're not ready, the process will be slowed up. The adjuster will have to come back later and your name goes back into the queue while you finish your homework.

Once the claim is worked, if we're still in the early part of the adjustment season, a grower can expect an indemnity check within 7-10 days. The further we get into the season, the slower the payments will be, due to volume.