When should you file a claim on your grapes?
By Trevor Troyer, Agricultural Risk Management
That’s a question I get a lot. Some growers think that they should wait until they know for certain that they have a loss when they finish harvest. You should turn in a claim as soon as there is a weather event or other cause of loss situation. This helps to document what is happening during your growing season as it unfolds. It also gives the adjuster time to come out if needed to inspect before the harvest.
You might have a situation where you have a late frost/freeze event for multiple nights. Primary buds may be damaged in your vineyard. Other nearby vineyards may have mild to moderate damage. It’s good to document these weather events when they happen and open up a claim. You may have other weather events that occur over the growing season that contribute to your tonnage being low.
Even if you are not sure about the extent of the damage, you should contact your agent and have them open up a claim for you. Depending on your coverage level you may think that you won’t have a loss. At this point don’t worry about the deductible percentage of your crop insurance policy. Call your crop insurance agent and open up a claim. It is not hard for the adjuster to withdraw the claim after you harvest, if it turns out your production was ok.
It is always better to have a claim open than not in this type of situation. There’s no way early in the season to figure out how much your yield will be down but if the claim is open and documented its better for all. This gives time to have an adjuster assigned, time to do an inspection and to document any visible damage and then to document any added damage several months later as well. Damage can very well be cumulative during the year should you experience several weather events and other things that could reduce your yield.
Here’s what it says in the 2025 Basic Provisions of the Common Crop Insurance Policy:
14. Duties in the Event of Damage, Loss, Abandonment, Destruction, or Alternative Use of Crop or Acreage
Your Duties –
(a) In the case of damage or loss of production or revenue to any insured crop, you must protect the crop from further damage by providing sufficient care.
(b) You must provide a notice of loss in accordance with this section. Notice provisions:
(1) For a planted crop, when there is damage or loss of production, you must give us notice, by unit, within 72 hours of your initial discovery of damage or loss of production (but not later than 15 days after the end of the insurance period, even if you have not harvested the crop).
Per the USDA Risk Management Agency, you have from 72 hours of the original cause of loss or until you discover it and up to 15 days after the end of insurance. I do not recommend waiting till 15 days after the insurance period, however, it does happen, and I am sure some growers will do it. I have had vineyard owners call me and say that their tons are down for a certain variety. That’s fine but I recommend that you open up a claim across all the varieties you have planted. Then we have to piece together what happened. What was the cause of loss? When was it? Was this the only thing or were there other weather events? It is always much easier for everyone if the claim is turned in close to the date of damage.
Losses do get paid but it is much easier on everyone, including the grower, if you report causes of loss right after they occur. That doesn’t mean you have to know for sure that you will have a loss, just that an event happened that may cause your crop to be reduced by harvest.
Here are the Causes of Loss out of the Grape Crop Provisions from the USDA RMA:
10. Causes of Loss.
(a) In accordance with the provisions of section 12 of the Basic Provisions, insurance is provided only against the following causes of loss that occur during the insurance period:
(1) Adverse weather conditions;
(2) Fire, unless weeds and other forms of undergrowth have not been controlled or
pruning debris has not been removed from the vineyard;
(3) Insects, except as excluded in 10(b)(1), but not damage due to insufficient or improper application of pest control measures;
(4) Plant disease, but not damage due to insufficient or improper application of disease
control measures;
(5) Wildlife;
(6) Earthquake;
(7) Volcanic eruption; or
(8) Failure of irrigation water supply, if caused by an insured peril that occurs during the insurance period.
(b) In addition to the causes of loss excluded in section 12 (Causes of Loss) of the Basic Provisions, we will not insure against damage or loss of production due to:
(1) Phylloxera, regardless of cause; or
(2) Inability to market the grapes for any reason other than actual physical damage from an insurable cause specified in this section. For example, we will not pay you an indemnity if you are unable to market due to quarantine, boycott, or refusal of any person to accept production.
Number 1 on the list is Adverse weather conditions. This could be just about anything, frost, freeze, drought, excess moisture, and hail. Fire is listed as well and because of this there can be damage several miles away from any given fire due to smoke. If you do have smoke taint you will need to get an independent lab to check for smoke taint markers. You can also have rejection letters from wineries stating that they don’t want the grapes due to smoke taint. Insect and disease damage are covered but you must show that you have application records, for example, spraying. Wildlife is another one that can cause problems – deer, raccoons, birds and others. Earthquake and Volcanic Eruption I have never seen a claim turned in for. . Number 8, Failure of irrigation water supply, is something that can be a big problem for growers. Certain areas rely heavily on irrigation. If there is a drought and your well or reservoir dries up, then that is a payable cause of loss.
Don’t wait to contact your agent about a potential situation or adverse weather that may reduce your crop. Even if you are not sure if something is a covered loss it is best to reach out to your agent. That is what your they are there for.
