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GRAPE GRO WING Mitigate nature's effects In essence, crop insurance has one objec- tive: to mitigate the effects of nature. When locusts shear tall stands of corn to their nubs in minutes, when spiraling tornadoes fell entire orchards of cherries or walnuts, crop insurance helps mop up the mess. Many years back, federally subsidized crop insurance was instituted to protect farmers against such natural disasters— "acts of God" in the parlance of the trade. California crop insurers like Rain & Hail, NAU Country, ProAg and ARMTech are required to write policies that follow fed- eral guidelines to the letter. For winegrape growers, vines must mature to their fourth growing season or third year after grafting, and there must be a minimum yield of two tons per acre in one of the past three years. Maximum coverage cannot exceed 85% of average yield. Mendocino County 41.3% Lake County 57.5% Sonoma County 53.3% Napa County 32.3% San Joaquin County 14.1% Monterey County 25.4% San Luis Obispo County 59.0% Santa Barbara County 40.0% and her staff at Chris Maloney Crop In- surance Services in Petaluma, Calif., and trusted her counsel. Percentage decrease in insurance rates: Growers in California counties who purchased 65% coverage saw their rates decrease from 2009 to 2010. From personal experience leasing an acre of Pinot Noir in Sebastopol, Calif., that delivered no grapes worth picking in 2010—after producing nearly four tons of delicious berries in 2009—I learned that filing an insurance claim goes well beyond a simple recitation of the facts. It entails consultating with your agent and making a wise decision about avail- able options long before bud break. The deadline for filing a new policy is Jan. 31 of the insured year. Growing Rus- sian River Valley fruit exclusively for my Segue Cellars label, nobody was less informed than I about how to protect my investment. I sought out Chris Maloney Maloney dispelled a few common misconceptions. There are no specific irrigation requirements, she explained. As a grower, your best-practices obligation is to employ farming methods that promise to bring your fruit to full ripening. You can dry farm if you choose. Also, you don't need to have a contract for your grapes in place before you file a claim. Another agent, Greg Merrill, director of crop insurance services for Pan American, who handles the crop insurance program for the California Association of Wine- grape Growers, added that premium rates do not rise or fall based on whether or not you've filed claims. And they both pointed out that RMA insurance rates for grapegrowers dropped dramatically in 2010—25%-65% in California, with variations driven by location—and that they will drop an estimated 9%-10% on average for 2011. Those lowered costs strengthen the argument for buying up— that is, paying for more than basic CAT coverage at 50%, and 55% of maximum price election. Federal subsidies cover a major portion of grower premiums, but they vary depending on the coverage level selected. That makes crop insurance a terrific deal, whether you're buying coverage from 50% or 85% of your approved average yield. Maloney suggested that I buy coverage based on the contract price for my Pinot Noir: $4,525 per ton. It's capped at 200% above county average (in this instance, $2,650 per ton). That added about a 20% increase to my premium, but with federal subsidies pick- ing up more than half the cost, the policy came to $210 at 70% coverage. My grapes were conventionally grown; if the vine- yard happened to be certified organic or in transition, there would have been a 5% surcharge. And if I had an organic vine- yard but didn't specify that on my policy and later filed a claim, the insurance would not pay out damage from insects, weed infestation or plant disease. Set the process in motion So much for clauses, subparagraphs and boilerplate fine print. Like marriage vows, insurance contracts bear a well- intentioned but sketchy relationship to what transpires in the real world. The rudder that actually steers any crop insur- ance claim isn't the policy on paper, it's often the personal connection between grower and insurance adjustor. One man's rotting worthless fruit can be another "Practically all crop carriers seem to operate best with electronic records vs. hard copies." —Greg Merrill, director of crop insurance services, Pan American man's select late-harvest Zin. As a grower, you don't get to make the call. That's the adjustor's job. Yours is to set the process in motion earlier than later by contacting your agent when things begin to go awry, and to assemble all the required informa- tion—weight tags and so forth—in a neat, accessible package. "Handing in a stack of tags that are crumpled, oddly sized and occasionally illegible, that's going to delay the process for sure," Merrill says. He suggests "scanning every document into your computer, and keeping up with technology by creating PDFs of relevant data. Practically all crop carriers seem to operate best with electronic records vs. hard copies." "What growers don't often under- stand," said my adjuster, C.J. Jensen, who was hired by Rain & Hail Insurance Service in Fresno, Calif., "is that I'm on the side of the grower." He was affable, helpful and in no way obstreperous, but seriously overworked. I soon saw that my job was simply to make sure Jensen didn't slough off my tiny vineyard while trying to cope with his enormous workload. He didn't. He visited the vineyard three times from early September through mid- October. As part of the process he was required to pull sample clusters from vari- ous blocks to submit with his appraisal to the claims department. "I could barely find any," he told me. "Yours is about the worst vineyard I've seen. Maybe you could get a third of a ton out of there, maybe, but I'm appraising it as zero." There was one incident that crystal- lized the humungous volume of wine- Wines & Vines JAnUARY 2011 61 NA VIGA TION