RMA released their 2026 changes to grape insurance in early September.  Federal Crop Insurance provides heavily subsidized risk management tools, and the grape policy has been expanded to include more North Carolina counties (Bladen, Henderson, Johnston, Polk, Robeson, Sampson, Surrey, Wilkes, and Yadkin, North Carolina) and significantly more varieties of grapes.  The past limitations on insurable varieties has made the program unattractive to NC vineyards specializing in wine grapes.  However, the new changes have created an opportunity for vineyards to more easily protect their investment.

NC Counties with Grape Insurance

• Bladen

• Henderson

• Johnston

• Polk

• Robeson

Grapes are insured by variety, must be in at least their 4th growing season, and have produced at least two tons of grapes per acre in at least one of the last three crop years in order to be insurable. The policy builds coverage based on a vineyard’s historical production and estimates an expected yield based on those averages.  Growers are able to choose a coverage level that guarantees them a percentage of that average (50%-85%).

The records requirements can be an obstacle for insuring vertically integrated businesses (like wineries) where every stage of planting, production, and retail are controlled by the entity.  However, there are often some types of less obvious documentation that can still be used.  We can help evaluate your current records to determine what you may have that can be used.

If you think you may have a need for crop insurance, please contact us and we can help determine the best strategy for your operation, help you gather the necessary records for coverage, or help you set up procedures to start tracking production so that you’ll qualify for coverage in the future.

Hurricane and Tropical Storm Endorsements

The basic insurance policy indemnifies growers when their production drops below their guaranteed yield.  Once set up, you are able to add Hurricane and Tropical Storm (HIP-WI) coverage to supplement your policy.

While the basic policy protects you against specific damage to your grapes, HIP-WI provides additional coverage that triggers automatically if a named storm affects your county or an adjacent county.