Nursery Value Select (NVS) is a pilot program that allows nursery producers to select the dollar amount of coverage that best fits their risk management needs. NVS, which is an asset-based form of insurance, runs concurrently with the existing nursery program and covers similar causes of loss. NVS is another crop insurance option for nursery crop producers, including those growing hemp, in addition to the Nursery crop insurance program. This NVS pilot program is available in select counties in Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington.
NVS was developed with input from nursery producers. The pilot program is based on the existing Nursery crop insurance program, with these changes:
- Simplification of the application and annual policy renewal process;
- Allowing nursery producers to select the dollar amount of coverage that best fits their risk management needs, and for buy-up policies; coverage tailored by an individual practice (container or field grown) or by choosing from any of 10 potential plant categories;
- A simplified loss adjustment process that uses a more accurate approach to determining plant values by placing greater reliance on the nursery producer’s actual sales receipts, along with increased producer participation in determining damaged plants’ ability to be marketed or rehabilitated;
- Elimination of a plant list based on third-party software and greater reliance on the producer’s inventory records, along with plant category naming conventions more familiar to the nursery industry;
- Tailored program dates that are better suited to the agronomic and industry nursery management practices in different regions across the country; and
- A new Occurrence Loss Option (OLO), moving the deductible from a unit level to a plant level for an additional premium (only available for buy-up policies).