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FARGO --A concern by beet growers over crop insurance indemnities
may be a matter of timing.
Wally Sparby, a field representative for Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn.,
said Risk Management Agency officials say they want to wait until
closer to harvest to determine how much farmers should get for root
rot damage.
"As I understand, one company paid their people that were
participating in their program," Sparby said. He said Craig
Rice, RMA regional director in St. Paul, told him "that was
premature, that they weren't supposed to do that."
American Crystal Sugar Co. told some growers with root rot that
their beets from some highly infected fields won't be accepted
because they won't keep in piles.
"Now we've got these others out here who haven't been paid
and it's kind of a dilemma," Sparby said.
He said a company called RCIS is the company that paid farmers
early.
"I'm sure there's kind of a discussion among the (federal
officials) whether Crystal should make the (loss) determination or
whether Risk Management should," Sparby said. "Another
thing they're going to ask for is for people to leave test strips
they can go out and check later on."
Peterson, reached in Los Angeles at the Democratic convention,
said he wasn't aware of problems, but said, "They're not going
to get by with treating one farmer differently than others, that's
for sure."
Karen Krieg, press secretary for Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., said
the Risk Management Agency had issued a statement on Tuesday saying
insurance companies could indeed make indemnity payments but that
"for this disaster they'll have to wait until everything's
accounted for. It's not like they're not going to get their
money."
"They've put a hold on the whole process to make sure
everything is squared away in their internal processes," Krieg
said.
She said the agency is studying policies to see whether, if the
crop is partly infected, they can receive a 100 percent payment.
"Our position is that if 50 percent or more of a crop is
destroyed, they should be eligible for 100 percent (payment),"
Krieg said. "That's what we've requested."
She said the agency is studying compensation percentages for the
root rot and expects to have an answer by today.
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