The U.S. Department of Agriculture is now offering crop insurance for sesame growers nationwide. Beginning in the 2024 crop year, USDA’s Risk Management Agency is expanding the Actual Production History Plan to allow growers to request a written agreement anywhere sesame or a similar crop has been successfully grown. RMA is expanding the program in response to requests from sesame growers.
“USDA has had increased interest in sesame production over the past few years, largely due to the fact that sesame is a low-cost, drought and heat tolerant crop,” said RMA Administrator Marcia Bunger. “After listening to feedback, the Risk Management Agency worked with growers to develop crop insurance options that will help growers start or expand their sesame production.”
The APH scheme is specifically for clean, dried sesame. In the 2023 crop year, growers insured more than 35,000 acres of sesame with liabilities in excess of $9 million. The Sesame APH plan of insurance is already available in select counties in Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas without any written agreement. Before the 2024 crop year, written agreements were limited to specified counties. Now producers will be able to request a written agreement anywhere sesame or similar crops such as cotton, wheat and grain sorghum have been successfully grown.
Non-split sesame avoids breakage when mature, allowing it to be harvested with the same equipment used for wheat. Growers have incorporated sesame into their normal rotation of corn or grain sorghum, wheat and cotton.
risk management options
Additionally, the RMA is expanding the availability of enterprise units for sesame, giving sesame growers more options to manage their risk. An enterprise unit allows a producer to insure all acres of insured crop in the county at once, while other unit structures separate acres for insurance. Venture units are attractive to producers because of the low premium rates they offer in recognition of the reduced risk associated with geographic diversification. In general, the larger the enterprise unit, the lower the risk and the higher the enterprise unit discount.
Growers who are interested in planting and insuring sesame seeds should speak to their crop insurance agent to get additional details, including upcoming sales closing dates for their field and written agreement requirements.
Sesame growers and other specialty crop growers can learn more on RMA’s specialty crop webpage At https://www.rma.usda.gov/en/Topics/Specialty-Crops or by contacting one of RMA’s Specialty Crop Contactors, who serve as contacts for local specialty crop growers. Producers can receive the latest information about RMA insurance options for specialty and organic crops by subscribing to RMA email updates.
Crop insurance is sold and distributed entirely through private crop insurance agents. A list of crop insurance agents is available at all USDA service centers and the online RMA agent locator, Producers can learn more about crop insurance and the modern farm safety net at rma.usda.gov or by contacting their RMA regional office,
