Bing Von Bergen is not only the president of the National Association of Wheat Growers, he’s a third-generation Montana wheat farmer who has seen all kinds of weather over the years. “Last year, parts of the nation had the worst drought since the ‘Dirty 30s,” he said, recalling the name given the Dust Bowl years.

Von Bergen farms about 4,700 acres near Moccasin, Montana, close to the heart of the state. Growing up in agriculture, he knows hard times can be just around the corner.

But a lot has changed since the Dust Bowl years, including the tools farmers have to manage risk. At the top of that list is crop insurance. “Crop insurance is our principal safety net,” he said. “And farmers are fighting to preserve it.”

Von Bergen says that in the 34 years that he’s been farming, crop insurance has gone from being a program that few could afford or would consider purchasing to being the most important risk management tool available to farmers today. “It has taken 30 years for crop insurance to develop from a program that offered little protection into a program with real protection,” he said.

Read Bing Von Bergen’s story here.