By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press

Beginning with the 2010 crop year, the USDA Risk Management Agency will offer insurance coverage based on the contract price for certain types of specialty barley.

The new insurance was designed with the help of Pacific Northwest barley commodity groups to meet the needs of farmers.

Idaho Barley Commission administrator Kelly Olson said the previous insurance covered specialty barley at a feed barley price guarantee, which didn't reflect the value of the crop.

"We felt it was important to offer the producer an option that was more straightforward, that would insure bushels at a more realistic market value," she said. Covered are malting, waxy hulled, waxy hulless and hulless barley.

The new insurance is available in all counties in Idaho, Oregon and Washington that carry multi-peril crop insurance, except for the seven counties that have a fall sales closing date for winter damage protection on winter barley.

Those counties -- Cassia, Nez Perce and Payette in Idaho; Wasco and Umatilla in Oregon and Yakima in Washington -- will have the new coverage for the 2011 crop year.

In the last 20 years, the Pacific Northwest has seen a decline in barley acreage. The volatility is due to better market returns from competing crops, Olson said.

The agency encourages barley growers to contact their crop insurance agent ahead of the March 15 spring sales closing date.

In addition, the RMA recently announced the extension of Multi-Peril Crop Insurance coverage for buckwheat in Washington state, particularly Franklin, Grant and Walla Walla counties. If a producer outside those counties has a contract with an approved business enterprise, he can get a written agreement, Risk management specialist Jo Lynne Seufer said.

This sales closing date is March 15.

Seufer said the scenario is similar to that for barley growers. The agency received requests for buckwheat coverage and worked with seed companies to develop the new policy.

The change requires producers to have a contract, Seufer said.

The policy will be filed in the three counties listed and may take a little longer, but they still can participate, she said.