October 2, 2019
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – COUNTRY Financial has entered into an agreement with the Risk Management Agency (RMA) to issue prevented planting supplemental disaster payments to COUNTRY clients who are eligible for payments, based on the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines. The USDA announced in mid-September the availability of additional disaster assistance. A portion of the $19.1 billion disaster aid bill included more than $3 billion in funding for disasters that impacted farmers and ranchers. Given the unprecedented volume of requested assistance, the USDA asked COUNTRY to assist in dispersing payments from the government-funded program.
“Many of our crop clients experienced significant challenges during the 2019 planting season, and by responding to our clients’ claims, our financial representatives and adjusters have witnessed first-hand the impact the weather had on getting crops planted,” said COUNTRY Financial Director of Agribusiness Operations, Lindsey Rinkenberger. “For farmers who still have empty fields this fall, we are proud to have completed 98% of our prevented planting claims and be able to further assist by issuing payments to them on the government’s behalf to provide some needed relief.”
The disaster assistance package announced in mid-September will allow policyholders a bonus prevent planting payment of up to 10% if they did not purchase the harvest price option, and a 15% bonus for those farmers who did make the harvest price option purchase.
With the prevented planting claims closed out as of October 1, 2019, it is already a record year for COUNTRY Financial and its clients, with claim amounts totaling $42,894,477 in Illinois.
Clients can call or visit their COUNTRY Financial Representative, review communication provided by the USDA, or visit USDA’s Frequently Asked Questions document for additional details.
COUNTRY Financial® is a family of affiliated companies (collectively, COUNTRY) located in Bloomington, IL. Learn more about who we are.
About COUNTRY Financial
The COUNTRY Financial® group (www.countryfinancial.com) serves about one million households and businesses throughout the United States. It offers a wide range of financial products and services from auto, home, business and life insurance to retirement planning services, investment management and annuities.
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