Crop Insurance Is Critical to Michigan’s Specialty Crop Industry
By Steve Umlor The affordability and bounty of the American food system did not occur by happenstance. It took wise policies supported by dedicated officials, hardworking farmers willing to risk their fortunes and a first-rate transportation and distribution system. Many of the policies that underpin food production chiefly support the major food and feed commodities […]
Setting the Record Straight on Crop Insurance
By Tom Zacharias, National Crop Insurance Services Admittedly, opponents of farm policy attract more headlines than the men and women who put food on our tables and clothes on our backs. Then again, it is far easier to get attention with sensationalist claims and unsubstantiated data. Take the drought of 2012 for example. Opponents of […]
Crop Insurance Fits Nation’s Fiscal Reality
By Patrick Solon, Streator, Illinois The historic 2012 drought that wilted the corn and soybean fields of Illinois and other Midwest states was one of the costliest events to hit rural America in decades. As the nightly news reported, losses on farms in large swaths of the Midwest were staggering, with some farmers having such […]
Do No Harm to Farm Insurance
By Andrew Bowman, Oneida, Illinois Hearings have started in Washington on the next farm bill. I count myself as one of the many farmers who will stand together and urge Congress to “do no harm” to crop insurance, which has become the front line risk management tool for American farmers. Crop insurance is a public-private […]
Senate Agriculture Committee Approves Farm Bill with Broad Bipartisan Support
The U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry today voted to approve the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012, a bipartisan Farm Bill authored by Committee Chairwoman Senator Debbie Stabenow and Ranking Member Senator Pat Roberts. The bill reforms food and agricultural policy by eliminating direct payments and emphasizing the need to […]
Good Farming Practices Aren’t Always Enough
By Bill Bridgeforth It is hard to talk about the state of Alabama without mentioning agriculture. Alabama boasts more than 48,000 farms, covering roughly 28 percent of the state. But being a farmer in the Deep South – given our weather patterns – is like owning an unpredictable dog. One day it loves you, the […]
Keep Crop Insurance Affordable in New Farm Bill
By Bing Von Bergen There is a lot of buzz in Washington again this year about the prospects of a farm bill. For those of us in agriculture, a five-year farm bill is one of the few things Congress can do to take some of the guesswork out of farming. That’s because farming is an […]
Opinion column: President’s proposals would undermine agriculture’s success
By Rep. Adrian Smith (R-Neb.) Earlier this month, President Barack Obama released his budget even though it was due on Feb. 4. While the House and Senate have already passed 10-year budget resolutions and the president’s proposals have little chance of being enacted, it is a revealing look at his priorities and vision for America. […]
Crop insurance one way to help protect farmers
Right before our very eyes, the nation’s specialty crop capital has turned into the nation’s frozen food section, as the San Joaquin Valley suffered several consecutive nights of freezing temperatures. While the extent of the damage to some crops could take weeks to assess, one thing is clear: Some farmers will take a big loss. […]
Farmers rely on crop insurance when nature turns on them
There is a huge story playing out right before our very eyes this year in agriculture that nearly everyone is missing: Despite the fact that this nation has faced two of the worst farming years in decades – with devastating drought in the Southern Plains and flooding in the Midwest in 2011, and widespread drought […]
