crop insurance
Irma threat drives orange juice, sugar futures higher
Hurricane Irma, which could become the costliest storm in U.S. history, is threatening $1.2 billion worth of agricultural production in Florida, the No. 2 produce grower in the country and “the top ... grower of fresh tomatoes, oranges, green beans, cucumbers, squash, and sugarcane,” says AgWeb.
Texas cotton farmers expected great year, until Harvey
For Texas cotton farmers, 2017 was shaping up to be the best harvest in more than a decade, according to NBC News. But then Hurricane Harvey hit and turned their prospects upside down. The turn of events was painful, given that in 2016 “farmers were lucky to harvest one bale of cotton per acre of the profitable crop.” This year, they had been expecting yields of three or four bales per acre.
GAO says ‘significant savings’ possible in crop insurance costs
The government could pare as much as $464 million annually from the cost of running the taxpayer-subsidized crop insurance system if it set more stringent terms with insurers, said a congressional watchdog agency. The recommendations hit different areas than the White House has targeted, or that lawmakers are expected to pursue in writing the 2018 farm bill.
Senate chairman says no crop insurance cuts in 2018 farm bill
With farm income in a slump, the government should be a partner, not an adversary, to farmers and ranchers, said the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee in ruling out cuts to the federally subsidized crop insurance program. “Let me emphasize that crop insurance is, for many, the most valuable tool in the risk management toolbox,” said chairman Pat Roberts.
Roberts warns against contrary views from USDA nominee Clovis on crop insurance
At the same hearing where he said President Trump promised not to cut crop insurance funding in 2018, Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts confronted statements by Trump nominee Sam Clovis, questioning whether it was a valid federal function. "If there is some nominee coming before this committee who says crop insurance is unconstitutional, they might as well not show up," said Roberts, arguably the strongest congressional advocate of the risk management tool.
House panel forgoes big Trump cuts in food stamps, crop insurance
With the big budget battle in another arena, House appropriators proposed steady-as-you go funding for the USDA and FDA in the fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1. President Trump has proposed cutting food stamps by 25 percent and crop insurance by 36 percent.
Perdue: We won’t let you go hungry but there are limits
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, who runs the federal farm subsidy and public nutrition programs, told a Montana audience that "my goal is to have a safety net for all American citizens, producers but also those who cannot afford (food) ... It is not in the heart of America to want to see anyone go hungry."
What farm credit mergers mean to family farmers
The latest in a series of mergers that are remaking the business of farm credit in America will, in early July, bring together three lenders in the upper Midwest, AgStar Financial Services, Badgerland Financial, and 1st Farm Credit Services. The new Wisconsin-based institution, to be called Compeer Financial, will hold over $18 billion in assets and will be the country’s third-largest farm credit association.
Crop insurance cut 36 percent in Trump budget
As Congress prepares to write a new farm bill, President Trump proposed a 36-percent cut in the federally subsidized crop insurance program over the coming decade, a far more sweeping set of reforms than what was proposed during the Obama era and rejected by farm-state lawmakers. Crop insurance is the largest of USDA's farm support programs at nearly $8 billion a year.
‘No sugarcoating’ sharp cuts at USDA, Perdue says
The Agriculture Department would lose more than 5 percent of its workforce under President Trump's proposals to slash crop insurance and food stamps, to down-size conservation programs and to eliminate many rural development programs, said USDA officials. "There's no sugarcoating what we will face," said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.
Crop insurance posts unusually low loss rate
Farmers have collected $3.65 billion in crop insurance indemnities on 2016 production, a much smaller amount than in preceding years. Economist Gary Schnitkey of the University of Illinois says the loss ratio — payments divided by premiums — of 0.41 was the lowest in 27 years of data available on the Risk Management Agency's web site.
Crop insurance will be big target for farm bill reformers
Farm groups will be hard-pressed to avoid cuts in the federally subsidized crop insurance program during work on the 2018 farm bill, said lobbyists from the two largest U.S. farm groups. One of the lobbyists, Mary Kay Thatcher, of the American Farm Bureau Federation, said her analysis of lawmakers' leanings suggested it will be easier to persuade Congress to pass the farm bill than to stop amendments that cut crop insurance.
Small government, anti-waste groups want to slash farm program and crop insurance
A coalition of small-government, anti-tax, and anti-waste groups says the 2018 farm law should abolish many of the subsidies now available to producers and "only provide risk-related assistance for uncontrollable natural events," such as major crop losses. "Farmers — especially those with operations with a million dollars or more in sales that account for most agricultural production — are more than capable of competing in the marketplace," say the 15 groups in a letter to lawmakers.
Conservative think tank would end crop subsidies, slash food stamps
The Heritage Foundation, credited as the source of many of President Trump's ideas on cutting discretionary spending, would eliminate the two major crop subsidy programs now in operation, end revenue insurance and abolish marketing orders for fresh produce if it had its way. The think tank's "Blueprint for Balance," a budget package for fiscal 2018, may answer the question of what the White House will propose in May as the full-bore successor to its "skinny budget" issued March 16.
Major farm groups put crop insurance, commodity subsidies as priority
The two largest U.S. farm groups and the leading groups representing corn, soybean, wheat, barley, canola and sunflower producers are united in asking for more money for the 2018 farm bill and in naming crop insurance and commodity programs as their top priorities for funding. "There is a consensus on every issue," the groups said in a statement presented at a House Agriculture subcommittee hearing on crop subsidies.
Farm Bureau to propose revenue insurance for dairy industry
Critics say the dairy subsidy created by the 2014 farm law, called the Margin Protection Plan and based on the difference between milk prices and feed costs, is inadequate in the face of the steep decline in milk prices since 2014. An alternative approach is being developed, says Dairy Herd Management magazine – a revenue insurance policy.
Corn growers say yes to revenue guarantees, no to yield protection
Given the choice, Corn Belt farmers vastly prefer revenue guarantees for their crop, whether through crop insurance or farm subsidies, over coverage that is based on yields, says economist Gary Schnitkey of the University of Illinois. The research shows why proposals to revamp the federally subsidized crop insurance program typically bog down in Congress.
Government crop-insurance program dings farmers for green practices
The policies of the "Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, a taxpayer-funded insurance program managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) and administered by a network of private companies,” punish farmers for environmentally-friendly practices, like planting cover crops, says Kristin Ohlson in FERN’s latest story, which was produced with Ensia.