Serious conflicts among government farm program and crop-insurance rules, regarding last fall’s seeding of cover crops, could lead to serious concerns regarding qualification for this year’s payments.

Some of the problems regarding the current cover-crop situation appear to be government agencies talking out of both sides of their mouths. But as most farmers know, that’s nothing new.

The major concern is that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) is maintaining that if a cover crop was growing on January 1, then it’s considered to be the primary crop.

As a result, corn, soybeans or other crops planted this spring under these circumstances will be treated as a double crop. And since double cropping is not a standard practice in many states and regions, this second crop will not be insurable for farmers in these areas.

Since RMA rules vary by state, these cover-crop concerns may or may not apply to your operation. But you need to be aware of the rules regarding cover crops and how they’re being interpreted in your area in regard to crop insurance and government-program payments.

In some states, crop insurance can’t be purchased for spring-planted crops if a cover crop or any portion of a cover-crop mix has been harvested or has reached the headed or budded stage prior to termination.

Yet in Ohio, the RMA has given farmers until June 5 this year to terminate cover crops to meet crop-insurance requirements because of last year’s wet spring. This was a change…