New Video Spotlights Public Support for U.S. Farmers, Farm Policy
America’s farmers and farm policies, including crop insurance, receive overwhelming, bipartisan support from voters, according to a new video released today by National Crop Insurance Services (NCIS). The video comes after the Republican and Democratic parties wrapped up their national conventions, moving America into the heart of the election season. “As the first Tuesday in […]
ICYMI: Trust the ag lender, crop insurance cuts would most harm family farms
This is the time of year when farmers are meeting with their lenders to renew farm operating loans for 2016. The past few years have been challenging for producers as commodity prices have fallen, input costs have risen, and severe weather has damaged or destroyed entire crops. With the downturn in the ag economy, multiple […]
ICYMI: Farm policy, crop insurance wise investments for all Americans
Although I was born and raised on a farm, the standing rule in our house was I had to spend two years after college pursuing other things. This was not to discourage me from continuing the family farming tradition. Rather, my father wanted to make certain I knew what kind of life I was signing […]
Diversity Makes Crop Insurance Special
Congress made crop insurance a cornerstone of U.S. farm policy for numerous reasons. It is efficiently delivered by the private sector. Farmers and insurers help fund the system so taxpayers aren’t on the hook for the entirety of disaster aid. Payments get into the hands of farmers after disaster strikes within days, not years, but […]
Convo 71
USDA’s Risk Management Agency recently announced the improper payment rate — a closely-watched standardized measure of waste and abuse required of all major federal spending programs – fell sharply last year for crop insurance. The rate dropped to a new level of 2.20 percent, representing a 62 percent drop from the prior year’s 5.58 percent. […]
Convo 70
Nearly 90 percent of Americans have a favorable view of farmers, and 92 percent said it was important to provide farmers with federal funding, according to a new national poll released this week. The poll, commissioned by the National Crop Insurance Services, surveyed 1,000 registered voters in early April. Jon McHenry is the Vice President […]
Farm Policy is Essential to Maintaining Ag Production in the U.S.
If there is one place that, in recent years, overwhelmingly demonstrates the need and importance of U.S. farm policy, it is California. For the past four years, this top agricultural producing state has experienced record drought conditions and for farmers like my husband and me, it has taken a toll on our operation. We have […]
Crop Insurance is Critical for Beginning Farmers
Agriculture has been my passion since an early age growing up on the family farm. I have continued the tradition with a farm of my own.Additionally, I have worked as an agricultural banker for nearly four decades. I started out working in the Farm Credit System, but eventually moved over to the private sector because […]
Crop Insurance is Money Well Spent by Farmers
Many folks might not realize this, but the passage of the 2014 Farm Bill was a turning point in American history, from an agricultural perspective. Largely gone are the days of government support programs like direct payments. In their place, and at the center stage of farm risk management tools, is crop insurance. I had […]
Crop Insurance Can Help Keep Multi-Generational Farms Within the Family
My farm has been in my family since the mid-1800s. I have seen firsthand how farming has changed over the decades. It is certainly more expensive to farm than when my parents and grandparents and great-great grandparents farmed the land, but one thing hasn’t changed in more than 150 years: farming is an unpredictable business. […]
