7 CFR § 400.52 - Definitions.

In addition to the definitions contained in the crop insurance contract, the following definitions apply for the purposes of the APH Coverage Program:

(a) APH. Actual Production History.

(b) Actual yield. The yield per acre for a crop year calculated from the production records or claims for indemnities. The actual yield is determined by dividing total production (which includes harvested and appraised production) by planted acres for annual crops or by insurable acres for perennial crops.

(c) Adjusted yield. The transitional or determined yield reduced by the applicable percentage for lack of records. The adjusted yield will equal 65 percent of the transitional or determined yield, if no producer records are submitted; 80 percent, if records for one year are submitted; and 90 percent, if two years of records are submitted.

(d) Appraised production. Production determined by the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS), the FCIC, or a company reinsured by the FCIC, that was unharvested but which reflected the crop's yield potential at the time of the appraisal. For the purpose of APH “appraised production” specifically excludes production lost due to uninsurable causes.

(e) Approved APH yield. A yield, calculated and approved by the verifier, used to determine the production guarantee and determined by the sum of the yearly actual, assigned, and adjusted or unadjusted transitional or determined yields divided by the number of yields contained in the database. The database may contain up to 10 consecutive crop years of actual and or assigned yields. At least four yields will always exist in the database.

(f) Assigned yield. A yield assigned by FCIC in accordance with the crop insurance contract, if the insured does not file production reports as required by the crop insurance contract. Assigned yields are used in the same manner as actual yields when calculating APH yields except for purposes of the Nonstandard Classification System (NCS).

(g) Base period. Ten consecutive crop years (except peaches, which have a five-year base period) immediately preceding the crop year defined in the insurance contract for which the approved APH yield is being established (except for sugarcane, which begins the calendar year preceding the immediate previous crop year defined in the insurance contract).

(h) Continuous production reports. Reports submitted by a producer for each crop year that the unit was planted to the crop and for the most recent crop year in the base period.

(i) Crop year. Defined in the crop insurance contract, however, for APH purposes the term does not include any year when the crop was not planted or when the crop was prevented from being planted by an insurable cause. For example, if an insured plants acreage in a county to wheat one year, that year is a crop year in accordance with the policy definition. If the land is summerfallowed the next calendar year, that calendar year is not a crop year for the purpose of APH.

(j) Database. A minimum of four years up to a maximum of ten crop years of production data used to calculate the approved APH yield.

(k) Determined yield (D-yield). An estimated year for certain crops, which can be determined by multiplying an average yield for the crop (attained by using data available from The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) or comparable sources) by a percentage established by the FCIC for each county.

(l) Master yields. Approved APH yields, for certain crops and counties as initially designated by the FCIC, based on a minimum of four crop years of production records for a crop within a county.

(m) New producer. A person who has not been actively engaged in farming for a share of the production of the insured crop for more than two crop years.

(n) Production report. A written record showing the insured crop's annual production and used to determine the insured's yield for insurance purposes. The report contains yield history by unit, if applicable, including planted acreage for annual crops, insurable acreage for perennial crops, and harvested and appraised production for the previous crop years. This report must be supported by written verifiable records, measurement of farm stored production, or by other records of production approved by FCIC on an individual basis. Information contained in a claim for indemnity is considered a production report for the crop year for which the claim was filed.

(o) Production Reporting Date (PRD). The PRD is contained in the crop insurance contract and is the last date production reports will be accepted for inclusion in the database for the current crop year.

(p) Transitional yield (T-Yield). An estimated yield, for certain crops, generally determined by multiplying the ASCS program yield by a percentage determined by the FCIC for each county and provided on the actuarial table to be used in the APH yield calculation process when less than four consecutive crop years of actual or assigned yields are available.

(q) Verifiable records. Contemporaneous records of acreage and production provided by the insured, which may be verified by FCIC through an independent source, and which are used to substantiate the acreage and production that have been reported on the production report.

(r) Verifier. A person authorized by the FCIC to calculate approved APH yields.

(s) Yield variance tables. Tables for certain crops that indicate unacceptable yield variations and yield trends which will require determination of the APH yield by the FCIC.