Release Notes 8.085.0

2020 Special Provisions for Apple Trees were made available by the RMA and were implemented in the System. These Provisions have been updated for the 2021 CY / 2020 RY:

A request was received to add RMA's Privacy Act and Non-Discrimination Statement per the DSSH requirements. Clarification was needed from the RMA via AIPs on the RMA's Privacy Act and Non-Discrimination Statements being substantive per DSSH Exhibit 41, which conflicts with Part 501 and Part 502 that state that those Statements are only required when the applicant, insured, agent, and loss adjuster are signing a form. RMA responded that they are keeping the substantive and will re-visit this potential change in a future release of the DSSH.

The Summary of Revenue History for Pecans was updated with the following for all years:

2020 Special Provisions for Hemp were made available by the RMA and were implemented in the System. These Provisions have been updated for the 2020 RY:

2020 Special Provisions were made available by the RMA and were implemented in the System. The following Provisions have been updated for the 2020 RY / 2021 CY:

2020 Special Provisions for Sunflowers were made available by the RMA and were implemented in the System. The following Provisions were updated for the 2020 CY / RY:

Nursery: RMA has created a new pilot program titled "Nursery Value Select". This new pilot requires a new form for acreage reporting: Nursery Value Report (NVR).

This new form is available from the MPCI policy Print tab and Batch Printing menus for all Crop Years, but the System will determine when Nursery Value Select policies can be entered into the System. The blank and pre-headed report styles were implemented with this ticket, prior to system functionality being fully enabled for the pilot, so agents and AIPs can print the forms to capture the required data. County will only print on the pre-headed with Insured and Agency / Agent format if the County is tied to a Nursery Value Select coverage.

Acreage Report: A request was received to make a few updates to the Acreage Reporting Form for Short-Rate Acres to assist the grower in calling out Short-Rate acres on Revised Acreage Reports. It was also noticed that the Extra AR page print option was giving an Elmah error when selected.

If the "Revised Acreage Report" print option is selected and there are Tree coverages on the policy, then the label will be "Tree Count / Reported Acres".

Apple Tree: This ticket is the beginning of updates to the Producer's Pre-Acceptance Worksheet (PAW) so Apple Tree PAW data can be captured. While reviewing the Apple Tree PAW data updates, it was found that the FL Fruit Tree PAW and the Apple Tree PAW formats were very similar. These updates were made for all years as the System will determine when an Apple Tree policy can be created.

NOTE: TFS #113700 has been set up to print the Apple Tree data on the Apple Tree PAW in a future release.

Apple Tree: The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) released Apple Tree Crop Provisions and Endorsements. These changes are applicable for the 2021 Crop Year / 2020 Reinsurance Year:

Fruit Tree: The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) released Florida (FL) Fruit Tree Crop Provisions. These changes are applicable for the 2021 Crop Year / 2020 Reinsurance Year and have been implemented in the System.

Hemp: The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) released Hemp Crop Provisions and Endorsements. These changes are applicable for the 2020 Reinsurance Year and have been implemented in the System.

Pecans: The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) updated the Pecan Tree Crop Provisions. These changes are applicable for the 2021 Crop Year / 2020 Reinsurance Year and have been implemented in the System.

An update was made so that, when a Field is deleted, any Custom Label associated with that field is also deleted.

Hemp: Hemp coverage will now be provided under the Actual Production History (APH) plan of insurance for the 2020+ RYs. This coverage will be provided to Hemp growers in select counties of the following states: Alabama, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin. The program will be expanded to additional states for the 2021 RY.

The three insurable types of Hemp under this coverage are Fiber (017), Grain (016), and Cannabidiol/CBD (018) with coverage levels ranging from 50% to 75% in addition to CAT coverage (50%/55%). The coverage allows growers to choose different coverage levels by type but does not allow separate coverage levels by Irrigation Practice. Basic Units by Share, Optional Units by Section, Section Equivalents, FSN, Practice, and Enterprise Units (with the exception of EU by Irrigation Practice and Multi-County EU) are allowed.

Hemp coverage does not allow for contract pricing, late plant, prevented plant, replant, high risk acreage, or written agreements. The APH for Hemp does not allow New Producer provisions, Yield Substitution (YA), Yield Cup (YC), Trend Adjusted APH (TA), Yield Exclusion (YE), or Yield Floors. The Sales Closing Date (SCD) for all states and counties for the 2020 Crop Year will be 3/15/2020. In subsequent years, the SCD for Alabama, California, and North Carolina will be 2/28 and all other states will have an SCD of 3/15.

Hemp: Transmission changes were required for the new 2020 RY Hemp policy. The Transmission was updated for the following records:

LP: When the Coverage Levels by Irrigation Practice (LP option) is elected on the coverage, the System sets an Irrigated Practice Code and a Non-Irrigated Practice Code in the database for transmission on the two P14 records required when LP is elected. Now, with the addition of Enterprise Units by Cropping Practice (EC), RMA is stating that when EC is elected in conjunction with LP, not only does one code need to be Irrigated and the other Non-Irrigated but one must be an FAC practice and the other an NFAC practice.

With this ticket, the logic that sets the Irrigated Practice Code and Non-Irrigated Practice codes in the database for transmission on the P14 Records when the LP option is elected has been updated. In addition to ensuring one practice code is Irrigated and one practice code is Non-Irrigated, if Enterprise Units by Cropping Practice (EC) is elected, the System will also now ensure that one practice code is an FAC practice and the other is an NFAC practice.

Production Reporting: In previous years, the Production Reporting Date (PRD) needed calculation logic to determine the earliest of 45 days after the Contract Change Date (CCD) or the Acreage Reporting Date (ARD). In recent years, for more and more crops, that date has shifted over to an established PRD date in the ADMs. Coffee and Alfalfa Seed are just two examples of some of the crops that have been converted to this new published PRD. The change of the calculated date versus the published date drove the change in code made with this ticket.

With this ticket, the code was updated to allow the System to pull in the PRD to the Legacy Signature Maintenance page from the ADM as an initial look-up. If there is no ADM date identified, then the System will apply the calculated date (earliest of the 45 days after the CCD or the ARD).

Signature Maintenance: While testing TFS #111108, an issue was found where the user was able to key a Revised Insured Date that was PRIOR to the original sign date without selecting the Correct Original Sign Date checkbox within the Legacy Signature Maintenance for Production Report. The System was saving the date with no error within the user interface.

With this ticket, new logic was added to the Legacy Signature Maintenance pages for all Signature Types. A validation was added to prevent the user from saving if the revised signature dates were prior to the original signature dates. This same validation was added to the Signature Maintenance functionality within Fast Edit PR.

Enterprise Units by Cropping Practice: Beginning in the 2020 RY, for Soybeans and Grain Sorghum in counties with an 11/30 or later Contract Change Date and both FAC (following another crop) and NFAC (not following another crop) practices available, RMA will allow Enterprise Units by Cropping Practice (EC Unit Structure). Enterprise Units by Cropping Practice will work very similarly to Enterprise Units by Irrigation Practice. Functionality to support EC will be implemented over the next several releases, beginning with this ticket that implemented the ability to elect EC on the coverage.

With this ticket, the following functionality to allow election of EC on the coverage has been implemented:

Perennials: An issue was reported where the Alternate Bearing Test for the Variance Index for Pistachios was displaying incorrect years in the UI. It was displaying the same year in the grid instead of the previous two years prior to the most recent year in the APH. The calculations were correctly calculating the previous 2 years prior to the most recent year in the APH. The issue was determined to be a display-only issue in the UI of the Alternate Bearing Test. The System was updated to fix the display issue for the Variance Index within the Alternate Bearing Test Grid UI.

Perennials: Beginning in the 2020 RY/2021 CY, RMA has released a new pilot program for Apple Tree Crop Insurance. Sales Closing Date for Apple Trees will be April 15, 2020. The program is modeled after the other tree based dollar crop programs like Florida Fruit Trees. Existing Plan 40 functionality will apply for Apple Trees along with some additional changes that are needed for the Apple Tree pilot program. Apple trees will be available for producers in Idaho, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington.

With this ticket, the Add New Policy, Add New Coverage, and Maintain Coverage pages have been updated for the 2020+ RYs (2021+ CYs) to account for different Coverage Levels that can be elected for each insured Type as well as different Price % Elections that can be selected for each insured Type in the county. If CAT is elected, it will apply to all Apple Tree acreage in the county.

Occurrence Loss Option (OLO), Comprehensive Tree Value Endorsement (CTVE), High Risk Exclusion Option, and Fire Blight Endorsement are now all available Endorsements and Options under the Apple Tree Pilot program. CTVE and OLO may be elected on the coverage as long as CAT coverage has not been selected on the policy. Fire Blight Endorsement will be mandatory in Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania and optional in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Fire Blight may be elected as long as the Apple Trees are not insured under CAT coverage and are not grown under the organic production practices.

For Crop Options CV or OX, a new validation has been added that if multiple coverages exist and CV and OX are selected, they must apply to all coverages.

Apple Tree coverage does not allow for Whole Farm Unit Structure, the Hail and Fire Exclusion Endorsement (HF) cannot be combined with any Fire Blight Options, and Written Agreements are all not allowed for Apple Tree coverage.

Duplicate Policy functionality and Mark Complete Suspension were updated to allow for multiple types of Apple Tree coverages for the same State/County/Crop/Plan/Type so long as each has a different Type. If two or more Apple Tree coverages exist for the same State/County/Crop/Plan/Type, the duplicate policy functionality and Mark Complete Suspension will be invoked.