My youngest daughter works with the Ky dept.of Agriculture on the federal level so I had her to look up what kind of insurance might be available through the farm projects on ginseng,
They had nothing for woodsgrown or wild simulated. It had to be cultivated and from a certified seed source or 3 year old rootlets from a cultivated source. The insurance was for mostly hail damage or some kind of force of nature on the canopy.
Insurance would not cover theft or diseases.
May try farm bureau for some kind of minimal coverage just to see what's out there even though it won't cover theft.
You never know when they may put a ban on WILD! Trying to get a foot in the door.
Although theft is a huge risk with this type of crop, it would be near impossible to insure against it. It's too easy to have your buddy dig and sell it all, and then claim it was stolen.
That was my understanding also. Any insurance for specialty crops won't cover our primary concerns. I've not even got an idea of how much it might cost.
you can however, claim a loss on your income taxes of that should happen. Not really insurance I know. However may get some of your refunds to be larger...
Whit,
If I planted 50 lbs of seed that cost me lets say $100 per lb and the deer ate it all when it sprouted, can I claim a loss of $5,000 for the seed?
Thanks,
Latt
If you are in the business of growing ginseng then you could deduct the cost of the seeds from the profit of the business in the same year you bought your seed on the Form 1040SC as Cost of Goods Sold. Remember everyone opinion is not a source for the IRS, I have been studying Tax for a little over a year to become a Tax Accountant. If you have a business some expense can be deducted but not all of them.
Latt- I keep a tally of every [bold-faced, capitalized], every expense I put into the 'sang patches. Remember that your profit -or loss- is calculated wether or not you make money. if you put that same 5k into the ground, what about the mileage to and from, the cost of tools/your time/soil suppliments/etc etc etc. IRS will ask you for your revenue figures, so be prepared to put something down for that as well; like zero for the first few years.
