Release Notes 10.010.0

SOI: A request was received to include on the Schedule of Insurance (SOI) the same Policy Provision statement that is on the Policy Declaration Page. There are 8 different formats of the SOI that were updated: API / PRF, Annual Forage, WFRP, Nursery (FG&C & NVS), Fruit & Trees, MPCI SOI format that includes continuous Private Products and all other MPCI crops, SOI as an Acreage Report (may not be turned on in your environment by design), and SOI / Production Report (may not be turned on in your environment by design). With this ticket, the following changes have been made to these formats for all years:

"Please retain a copy of the Schedule of Insurance for your records as this is part of your Policy. The Policy Provisions should be reviewed in their entirety and are available from your agent. The complete Policy Provisions are available on the RMA website at www.rma.usda.gov."

SOI: During testing, it was found that LGM provisions were no longer printing. LGM provision functionality has been updated so the provisions print again with the LGM Schedule of Insurance (SOI).

LGM: Previously, the System did not have any lockout logic in place for eDAS production like what was in place for DRP. If agents or AIP users tried to submit any premium after the 9AM CST sales cut off, eDAS would return errors and not accept the premium. However, RMA has recently added CR 250079 to allow for additional LRP and LGM processing time for AIPs to follow the same structure that is already in place for DRP.

For the 2022+ RYs, LGM sales will be weekly rather than monthly. Sales will begin on Thursday afternoons once the rates have been released and will run until the following morning (Friday) at 9AM CST. If that Friday is a federal holiday, LGM sales for the previous day will still end at 9AM CST that Friday. However, now with RMA's new extended processing logic, AIPs will have an additional processing window from 9AM to 12PM CST on Fridays to finalize or make corrections for any premium booked prior to the 9AM cutoff.

With this ticket, new LGM Lockout logic has been added to the System to prevent agent users from processing past 9AM CST on Fridays. The lockout logic will be driven off of a new AIP System Preference which will set the lockout time the System needs to validate against. A new System Function will also need to be added to allow AIP users to bypass the 9AM Agent lockout logic and continue processing as needed. The System will prevent agent users from being able to select an Effective Date when creating a new LGM premium line if past the 9AM processing cut off. Logic for the Save button when creating new LGM premium lines and logic for the Submit to eDas buttons on both the Coverages and Detail Lines tabs is being updated to look at the System time and check if the user has the new bypass System Function. If is it past the 9AM lockout and the user does NOT have the bypass function, the System will not allow user to save any new premium lines for the "locked out" premium lines and will not pick up any previously saved premium lines in any transmissions (coverages will still be sent in the transmission if they are at the "Ready for Submission" Processing Status). An error message will be displayed notifying the user and asking them to contact their insurance provider for assistance.

A new mapping layer for June 2021 was released by the RMA and has been implemented in the System.

An info icon, , was added to the Mapping toolbar. When a user selects this icon, the tool becomes active and they can click a point on the map to see additional information about it. A popup will open to display the location information, grower field information, and planting record information.

Fast Edit AR/PR: During internal testing, an issue was found where when a user selected the paperclip icon within the Fast Edit PR and/or AR Signature Maintenance pages, an elmah error was returned. The System had been updated for a global setting which was preventing the iframe from working correctly. Fast Edit Signature Maintenance attachment functionality needs this iframe for loading the common attachment screen. This issue has been resolved.

Hybrid Specialty Seed: In TFS #124602, the original calculations were set up for the Hybrid Specialty Seed Pilot Program. RMA, in the 05/10/2021 PASS status update, called out a premium calculation change that has been made in the M13 exhibits that needed to be verified against the current code for Hybrid Sweet Corn (0093) and Hybrid Popcorn Seed (0334). For this ticket, the System's premium calculations were updated in accordance with the M13 exhibits for the Hybrid Specialty Seed crops, Hybrid Sweet Corn (0093) and Hybrid Popcorn Seed (0334).

PCCP: The Pandemic Cover Crop Program (PCCP), offered nationally by USDA's Risk Management Agency (RMA), helps farmers maintain their cover crop systems despite the financial challenges posed by the pandemic. The PCCP is part of USDA's Pandemic Assistance for Producers initiative, a bundle of programs to bring financial assistance to farmers, ranchers, and producers who felt the impact of COVID – 19 market disruptions. The PCCP provides premium support to producers who insured their spring crop with most insurance policies and planted a qualifying cover crop during the 2021 Crop Year. The premium support is $5 per acre (acres X subsidy $5 X insured share) but no more than the full premium owed.

Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa have existing state subsidy programs for producers to receive a premium benefit for planting cover crops. In these states, participating producers will receive an additional PCCP benefit if they qualify.

All cover crops reportable to FSA are eligible and include cereals and other grasses, legumes, brassicas, other non-legume broadleaves, and mixtures of two or more cover crop species planted at the same time.

To receive the benefit for this program, producers will not need to sign-up; they will just need to file a Report of Acreage form (FAS-578) for cover crops with USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) by June 15, 2021, which is distinct from normal acreage reporting dates. The normal acreage report deadlines with FSA have not changed, but to receive the premium benefit, producers must file by June 15. The cover crop fields report on the Report of Acreage form must match what the producer reported to their insurance company for Federal crop insurance policies.

PCCP is not available for Whole-Farm Revenue Protection, Enhanced Coverage Option (ECO), Hurricane Insurance Protection – Wind Index (HIP-WI), and Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO). Stacked Income Protection (STAX) and Margin Protection (MP) policies are ONLY eligible for PCCP when insured as a standalone policy. STAX and MP endorsements to underlying policies ARE NOT eligible for PCCP.

PCCP WILL NOT change acreage reporting dates, reporting requirements, or any other terms of the crop insurance policy.

At this time, the benefits from the Pandemic Cover Crop Program apply to the 2021 RY only. The RMA-determined subsidy will be imported as part of the PASS return file and stored in a new DB field on the MPCIPremiumLine table, similar to the way state subsidies are handled. A Mark Complete Process that is triggered by the import of the RMA return file will then sum these RMA-determined values to a total for the Coverage. The summed value(s) for the Coverage(s) will be included on the Billing Statement with the required description from the MOU.

According to RMA procedure, the State subsidy values, if applicable, will apply to premium due first, and then the PCCP subsidy will be applied. Premium for the coverage cannot be less than $0.

PCCP benefits will not apply to any producer who is out of compliance with Conservation Compliance. If a Grower is "Out of Compliance", it is believed RMA may continue to pass AIPs the PCCP subsidy values. The changes under this ticket will NOT sum the P11 PccpAdditionalSubsidy values to a coverage total if the grower is out of compliance. If the grower is initially "In Compliance" and then their status changes to "Out of Compliance", the System will remove any previously summed values on the MpciCoverage table.

RMA is projecting they will release an updated ICE table for State and PCCP subsidies the week of June 21st with calculations being added to return files after that time (TBD).