USDA announces two new risk-management tools for pasture, rangeland and forage, beginning with the 2007 crop year. The two programs, which allow livestock producers to buy insurance protection for losses of forage produced for grazing or harvested for hay, will be available through approved insurance providers.

• The Rainfall index insurance program will be pilot-tested in 220 counties in Colorado, Idaho, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, North Dakota and Texas, and is based on rainfall indices as a means to measure expected production losses.

• The Vegetation index insurance program will be pilot tested in 110 counties in Colorado, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and South Dakota, and is based on satellite imagery that determines the productivity of the acreage as a means to measure expected production losses.

Together, the pilot programs will be available to provide coverage on about 160 million of the 640 million acres of grazing land and hay land in the U.S., USDA says. Available for sale from crop-insurance agents later this year, the sales closing date is Nov. 30. Find more info at: http://www.rma.usda.gov/policies/pasturerangeforage/.