Good farming practices under the RMA standard are the production methods you must use to keep your federal crop insurance coverage intact: methods generally recognized by agricultural experts in your area, that give the crop a realistic chance of producing at least the yield used to set your production guarantee. If your insurer decides you fell short, the resulting losses get treated as uninsured, and your indemnity shrinks or disappears.
The rule lives in the Common Crop Insurance Policy’s Basic Provisions at 7 C.F.R. § 457.8. That regulation defines good farming practices as production methods that let the insured crop make normal progress toward maturity and produce at least the yield used to determine the production guarantee or amount of insurance, where those methods are generally recognized by agricultural experts for the area.1eCFR. 7 CFR 457.8 – The Application and Policy For certified organic or transitional acreage, the recognition has to come from organic agricultural experts rather than conventional ones.
“Generally recognized” has its own definition in the same section. A method qualifies when experts are aware of it and there is no genuine dispute about whether it lets the crop progress normally and hit the insured yield.2eCFR. 7 CFR 457.8 – The Application and Policy – Section: Definitions If a meaningful minority of experts in your region considers a method questionable, it may not clear the bar.
The scope is wide. The RMA handbook tells reviewers to consider any practice that could affect the amount or quality of the crop, from ground preparation through harvest.3Risk Management Agency. Good Farming Practice Determination Standards Handbook Planting dates, seed selection, fertilizer programs, pest management, irrigation decisions, harvest timing. All of it is in play.
Who Counts as an Agricultural Expert
The whole standard turns on what experts in your area accept, so the RMA is specific about who qualifies. The handbook recognizes:
- Employees of the Cooperative Extension Service or the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA, formerly CSREES).
- Researchers and faculty in university agricultural departments whose work relates to the specific crop and practice.
- Natural Resources Conservation Service employees, particularly for determinations involving cover cropping.
- Certified private consultants credentialed by bodies such as the National Alliance of Independent Crop Consultants, the American Society of Agronomy, the American Society for Horticultural Sciences, or the International Society of Arboriculture.
Whoever is offering the expert opinion has to have demonstrated expertise in the specific crop and practice in your region, and cannot have a personal or financial stake in the operation or the crop. A neighbor’s opinion doesn’t count. Neither does the consultant you hired for your own farm.3Risk Management Agency. Good Farming Practice Determination Standards Handbook
Organic operations have a parallel roster: staff at ATTRA (the Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service), the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education organization (SARE), and USDA Accredited Certifying Agents. Their opinions and published materials are treated as an integral part of any organic GFP determination.3Risk Management Agency. Good Farming Practice Determination Standards Handbook
How Your Insurer Makes the First Call
Your Approved Insurance Provider decides first whether you followed good farming practices. This happens well before the RMA gets involved. The question can come up during loss adjustment, a growing-season inspection, or a compliance review.
When the AIP questions your practices, expect a request for documentation of your agronomic situation: receipts, farm records, third-party verification, an organic plan if you have one, and anything else showing the method is or isn’t recognized as a good farming practice.3Risk Management Agency. Good Farming Practice Determination Standards Handbook The AIP may also ask for published materials on the method or a written opinion from a qualified expert. On its own side, the AIP documents field conditions through adjuster reports, photographs, and sometimes comparison photos from neighboring fields.
The AIP then issues a written GFP Decision. Favorable, and the claim moves on. Unfavorable, and the AIP assigns a portion of your lost production to the uninsured cause, meaning your methods rather than the covered peril.
What a Negative Finding Costs You
A negative GFP finding doesn’t automatically wipe out your claim. The AIP assigns production to account for losses caused by the unapproved practice, separate from losses caused by insured perils like drought or hail. That assigned production is counted as if harvested, which narrows the gap between your guarantee and actual production and reduces your indemnity accordingly.4Risk Management Agency. Final Agency Determination FAD-284
Only the AIP can set the specific amount of production attributed to a GFP failure. If you disagree with the amount, that fight goes through the arbitration or mediation process in the Basic Provisions, not through the GFP determination process.3Risk Management Agency. Good Farming Practice Determination Standards Handbook Two separate disputes, two separate channels. It’s easy to confuse them.
A negative finding also applies to every shareholder on the affected acreage, not just the person who made the decision. A single finding doesn’t disqualify you from buying crop insurance in future years, but it creates a documented record your AIP can reference on later claims.
Documentation That Protects You
The strongest defense against a negative finding is records you kept before the loss. Producers who maintain detailed contemporaneous records do far better than those trying to reconstruct decisions after the fact. What carries weight:
- Farm management records, including planting dates, seeding rates, cultivation schedules, and crop variety identification for the specific acreage.
- Input records: chemical application logs, fertilizer receipts, seed purchase documentation.
- Written opinions from qualified agricultural experts, or citations from Extension bulletins and published research that support your method.
- Weather records and soil reports that help explain why a particular practice fit the conditions you faced.
- A current organic plan, if your operation is certified organic.
A method backed only by personal experience or local tradition is exposed. If no published materials support the practice, the handbook requires written opinions from at least two qualified agricultural experts confirming it meets the GFP criteria.3Risk Management Agency. Good Farming Practice Determination Standards Handbook One expert opinion alone won’t carry the day.
Requesting a Formal RMA Determination
If you disagree with the AIP’s decision, the next step is a written request for a formal GFP Determination from the RMA Regional Office covering your insured acreage. File it through your AIP within 30 calendar days of receiving the AIP’s decision. Miss the deadline and the request is rejected, unless you can show a physical inability to file on time, such as hospitalization.3Risk Management Agency. Good Farming Practice Determination Standards Handbook
Once the AIP receives your request, it must notify the appropriate RMA Regional Office within 5 business days, then upload your request and its complete GFP Decision file through the agency’s online system within 10 business days.3Risk Management Agency. Good Farming Practice Determination Standards Handbook The Regional Office screens for completeness and may give you 10 calendar days to add documentation, with a possible extension of up to 20 more if you ask.
A written GFP Determination follows within 60 days of the Regional Office receiving the complete file, unless it extends the timeline in writing. That determination is binding on the AIP, which must apply it to the claim even if it disagrees. The RMA will not rule on hypothetical situations or practices not yet used, so there is no advance approval for a new method.
Reconsideration and Federal Court
If the Regional Office’s determination goes against you, the next remedy is a written reconsideration request under 7 C.F.R. § 400.98, filed within 30 calendar days of receiving the determination letter. This is the only administrative remedy for GFP determinations. Mediation isn’t available, and GFP determinations cannot be appealed to the USDA’s National Appeals Division; the regulation is explicit that a GFP determination is not an adverse action for NAD purposes.5eCFR. 7 CFR 400.98 – Reconsideration Process
Reconsideration is a closed-record review. The reviewer looks only at what’s already in the administrative file, and you cannot submit new evidence or expert opinions at this stage. Your written request has to argue either that the original decision wasn’t made in accordance with program regulations and procedures, or that the material facts already in the record weren’t properly considered.5eCFR. 7 CFR 400.98 – Reconsideration Process The RMA issues a written reconsideration decision within 60 calendar days of accepting the request, unless extended in writing.
If reconsideration still doesn’t resolve the dispute, you can sue the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation in United States District Court. You are not required to exhaust NAD remedies first, but you do have to complete the § 400.98 reconsideration process before filing.5eCFR. 7 CFR 400.98 – Reconsideration Process For GFP determinations you can only sue FCIC, not the reinsured insurance company. Because reconsideration is closed-record, the practical implication is straightforward: get every document, expert opinion, and published source into the file before the Regional Office issues its initial determination. Nothing added later will help.