Minnesota Rep. Rick Nolan unveiled a bill to make crop insurance available at lower cost to beginning farmers, and to make it easier for diversified farmers to get insurance. Less than 50 percent of small farmers, including organic, livestock, fruit and vegetable, and direct-to-consumer operations, have crop insurance, says a small-farm advocacy group.
A Democrat, Nolan said his bill “is simply a good deal for everyone” because it offers a stronger safety net for beginning farms and it encourages land stewardship by letting farmers use cover crops without fear of losing crop insurance. Under current policy, growers may be penalized if cover crops are not killed before the start of spring planting.
“USDA’s policies on crop insurance and conservation have been working at cross purposes for too long,” said Paul Wolfe of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, which supports the Nolan bill.
Nolan said the bill also would close a loophole that permits farmers to use historical yield data to predict the yield of lower-quality land.