Origin Malt is thrilled to announce the approval of an expansion to the malting quality endorsement for 35 counties in the state of Ohio!
Until this accomplishment, crop insurance only covered feed-value barley and didn’t cover the extra costs and work necessary to grow and meet malting quality grade. If a grower lost their barley for any reason, they wouldn’t have been able to close the loss gap on this premium cash crop.
Below is a picture of Victor Thorne and Whitney Thompson of Origin Malt in D.C. this past March with representatives from the North Dakota Barley Council, Ohio Corn and Wheat Growers Association, and Watts & Associates.
Approval of the malting quality endorsement builds on the current crop insurance offerings, allowing growers to protect their crop at the contracted price for meeting malting grade. At the beginning of this quest three years ago, we were informed that it would take 10-12 years to qualify for the endorsement. However, with the right support network and proven results from our excellent, talented growers, the Federal Crop Insurance Commission(FCIC) agreed that farmers can successfully grow malting quality barley in our region and should have the option for the endorsement. This offering will be available for the Crop 2020-2021 season. The FCIC will review additional counties for expansion that continue to show progress growing malting quality barley in the future.
We want to extend special thanks to all that have supported this effort and process, especially Watts & Associates, North Dakota Barley Council, Federal Crop Insurance Commission, Ohio Corn & Wheat, USDA-RMA Springfield, Ohio State University, Malting Seed Producers, our agronomy partners, insurance partners, grower partners, investors, customers, and all of the public and private supporters who contributed data, research, expertise, and network influence.
