Apple farmers in Henderson County are upset about a proposed change to federal crop insurance that could alter their payout after a catastrophic loss.

"The proposed change would devastate the individual and frankly put a lot of growers out of business," Blue Ridge Apple Growers Association President Adam Pryor told the Times-News of Henderson.

The majority of the apple farms in Henderson County are insured as producing fresh apples, which pays a higher rante than processed apples. The county sells just over 50 percent of its apple crop as processed apples. The new rule seeks "verifiable records to prove at least 50 percent of their fresh apple acreage was sold as fresh apples in one or more of the three most recent crop years."