In a letter to U.S. farm organizations, crop insurance agents released an alternative to the massive crop insurance funding cuts—ranging from $8.4 to $6.9 billion—recently proposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “What has been missing from this negotiation is a focus on what benefits the farmer,” said Ronnie Holt, Chairman of the Crop Insurance Professionals Association (CIPA), the group of independent agents that wrote the letter.