crop insurance

The Agriculture Department put on the Internet a "tool" to help growers assess how the Supplemental Coverage Option would apply to their crops and the approximate cost of the coverage.

It may be months before USDA publishes a regulation but it is reminding farmers that the new farm policy law links so-called conservation compliance with eligibility for a discount on crop insurance. Operators have until next June 1 to file the paperwork, form AD-1026, the Highly Erodible Land Conservation and Wetland Conservation Certification.

Growers have 60 days to submit applications for compensation for fruit losses in 2012, the Agriculture Department said in the Federal Register. The payments will flow through the Noninsured Assistance Program, which provide protection similar to crop insurance for commodities not covered by catastrophic insurance.

Key provisions of the new farm policy law - insurance, conservation, dairy and the traditional crop subsidies - are the focus of a new edition of Choices, the magazine of agricultural economics.

When commodity prices fall, growers may collect payments from crop insurance as well as deficiecy payments from traditional crop subsidies, says economist Carl Zulauf of Ohio State University in an analysis.

The Agriculture Department awarded $6 million to educate farmers about subsidies available in the new farm law and said enrollment would begin this summer for the new Margin Protection Program for dairy. Grain and soybean growers will make a key decision this winter - selecting either the insurance-like Agriculture Risk Coverage program or the Price Loss Coverage program, a more traditional approach, as their safety net through the 2018 crops.

A nationwide roll-out it vital for success of a new whole-farm revenue insurance policy, says a small-farm group, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack unveiled the new policy at the Organic Trade Association meeting last week.

At the Organic Trade Association conference, AgSec Vilsack encouraged the industry to pursue a so-called checkoff program to pay for research and promotion of organic products. "This is an enormous opportunity the farm bill has created. The industry should take advantage of it," Vilsack said.

The government should give farmers a discount on crop insurance premiums if they plant cover crops or use no-till practices, said Claire O'Connor of the Natural Resources Defense Council during a teleconference on climate change. She said it would encourage practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and also protect soil and water quality.

U.S. farmers will stick with traditional crop subsidies based on crop prices and shy away from the crop revenue subsidy created in the new farm law, says the Congressional Budget Office.

The 2014 farm law ended the direct-payment subsidy and made crop insurance the major farm support. For most states, there is little difference in the state's share of the receipts.

Ag economist Art Barnaby of Kansas State University created a 13-page summary of the crop subsidy and federally subsidized crop insurance provisions of the 2014 farm law.

The Center for Agricultural and Rural Development at Iowa State Univ releases a report on crop insurance selection by growers.

President Biden signed a stop-gap government funding bill over the weekend that calls for speedy payment of $10 billion to farmers to buffer lower commodity prices and high production costs. Congress voted to fund the government through March 14 after a fight that showed the limits of President-elect Trump's control over Republican lawmakers.