What are People Saying about Crop Insurance?

Safety Net

“We buy [crop] insurance every year because, if we have a bad year, it gives us a chance to keep farming.”
— Don Van Winkle, Farmer
Wenatchee, Washington

“The safety net provided by crop insurance is vital to maintaining the agriculture industry in this country, especially in the face of increasingly unpredictable disasters like drought, flood, and extreme weather. It’s a really, really important risk tool that we have…and we’re really grateful for it and the fact that it is protected by our Farm Bill.”

— Allyson Maxwell, Farmer
Beaverton, MI

“Crop insurance is something you hope you never have to use. It doesn’t pay for the total cost of planting a crop of wheat. But it will keep farmers in business for the next season – and that’s the whole point of a safety net.”
— David Schemm, President, National Wheat Growers Association

“Our farmers, they’re not asking for a handout. They want help to make sure there’s a backstop that helps them with their risk.”

— Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chair, Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

“NCGA believes that for the corn farmer who faces a high level of financial and production risks every year, (investments in new technology and more modern production practices) were made possible by a farm safety net that offers sound risk management tools and a cost share federal crop insurance program that serves as the foundation.”
— Wesley Spurlock, National Corn Growers Association

“When a natural disaster looms on the horizon, whether it is a drought, flood, hailstorm, or in my case, a tornado, we know that crop insurance will help keep us in business.”
— Kenneth Wood, Kansas Association of Wheat Growers

“In the highly uncertain business of farming, any certainty we can get is of tremendous value to us. This is also why crop insurance is so valuable –because of its rock-solid certainty.”
— Dan Atkisson, National Sorghum Producers

“As is the case with other insurance policies, we purchase crop insurance in the hope that we never have to use it. And, when disaster strikes, we use the policy to pay our bills. It isn’t close to what we would collect from a healthy crop, but it allows us to keep farming.”
— Nicole Berg, Farmer
Paterson, Washington

“Farmers are the engines that drive the economy of rural America, and without a sufficient safety net in place – like crop insurance – that entire equation is at risk.”
— Tom Gillis, President, Wisconsin Corn Growers Association

“My wife and I have risked our livelihood to maintain the farm for our children and grandchildren, just as my parents and grandparents did for us. Without crop insurance, we would have to quit farming.”
— Darrell Crapp, Farmer
Lancaster, Wisconsin

“I can’t imagine how unsettling it would be to farm in today’s climate – weather or political – without crop insurance.”
— Jared Lyle, Ag Lender
Fairfield, Iowa

“What I would tell critics [of crop insurance] is to take one year in my shoes, on a bad year, and see if you like crop insurance or not. It’s a security blanket for us.”
— Mike Abbott, Farmer
Davenport, Washington

“If we didn’t have [crop] insurance, we would be in a world of hurt. Not only do we depend on that to pay for our expenses, but we have seven other employees that work for us.”
— Brad Rock, Farmer
Wray, Colorado

“Crop insurance is so important to me. We have three families directly that drive income from our farm and if we did not have crop insurance we would not be able to survive.”
— Noah Hultgren, Minnesota Corn Growers

“Without crop insurance and commodity title payments, the financial wherewithal of [family] farms would likely face serious erosion in the current environment.”
— Bruce Rohwer, Board Member, National Corn Growers Association

Affordability

“We must continue to have an affordable crop insurance program. With input costs higher in every area of my operation, I cannot afford to have the crop insurance premium subsidy reduced in this next Farm Bill.”
— Jake Isley, Farmer
Blissfield, MI

“Don’t let anyone tell you anything differently: Affordable, available and viable crop insurance is essential for a healthy farm sector and plentiful, domestic food supply.”
— John Michael Pillow, Farmer
Yazoo City, Mississippi

“Statistics already show us that farming is a hard life with fewer and fewer people willing to try it. Now is not the time to make starting a farm even more difficult by destroying the viability and affordability of crop insurance.”
— Joe Kessie, Senior Vice President and Commercial South Regional Manager, Lake City Bank

“Clearly, the success behind crop insurance is that it’s affordable, viable, and available. Unlike other forms of insurance, any farmer who wishes to purchase crop insurance can do so, regardless of the size of their farming operation or how many years they may have under their belts farming.”
— Todd Snider, Crop Insurance Agent

“Farmers, ag leaders, equipment dealers – everyone involved in agriculture – agrees that crop insurance should remain a viable and affordable tool for managing risk.”
— Richard Gaona, President, Rolling Plains Cotton Growers

“With more frequent and intense weather patterns, rising interest rates and production costs and lower commodity prices, our risk has gone up while our balance sheets have gone down. We simply have to have affordable crop insurance to manage those risks.”
— Kyle Peterson, Chairman, Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative

“Annual losses incurred by farmers clearly demonstrate the need for crop insurance protection and the public-private partnership of program delivery. Farmers, their lenders, input suppliers and other stakeholders agree that crop insurance protection should remain a viable, affordable tool for managing risk.”
— Ronnie Lee, Chairman, National Cotton Council

Natural Disasters

“Each year, there will inevitably be producers in some part of the country that experience weather conditions outside of their control that could take out their crop. Crop insurance is critically important to enable a producer to farm another year after such an experience.”
— David Schemm, National Association of Wheat Growers

“I wonder if anyone understands the need for a solid crop insurance program more than the Kansas farmer. Drought, hail, wind and floods can ravage farms and sometimes Kansas farmers can experience all of these disasters in the same year.”
— Kent Moore, Kansas Corn Growers Association

“When a natural disaster looms on the horizon, whether it is a drought, flood, hailstorm, or in my case, a tornado, we know that crop insurance will help keep us in business.”
— Kenneth Wood, President, Kansas Association of Wheat Growers

“No crop insurance program will make a grower devastated by a natural disaster financially ‘whole’ but it will allow them to survive a devastating loss and continue to support the economic engine of rural America.”
— Chris Alpers, Farmer
Lake Leelanau, Michigan

Young and Future Farmers

“Farming isn’t an easy life, but it’s a wonderful life. And crop insurance helps keep us in our farming operations. My husband and I are young farmers, so if we didn’t have that it would be really hard to farm.”
— Erica Wuthrich, Farmer
Bloomfield, Iowa

“Crop insurance protects investments farmers have in their crop. And it’s even more important for beginning farmers.”
— Jeremy Hinton, Farmer and Crop Insurance Agent
Hodgenville, Kentucky

“Crop insurance is such a solid package. As a young farmer it helps me know that I can continue farming another year.”
— Colin Johnson, Farmer
Batavia, Iowa

“I use crop insurance to protect what I’ve got each year to move forward and to leave something to the next generation.”
— Jeff Coke, Farmer
Calhoun, Kentucky

Importance of Crop Insurance

“Annual losses incurred by farmers clearly demonstrate the need for crop insurance protection and the public-private partnership of program delivery.”
— Ronnie Lee, Chairman, National Cotton Council

“Crop insurance is so vital to this state; so vital to every crop in [Texas]. Whether it be corn, wheat, or cotton – all of the crops come very much into play when it comes to crop insurance.”
— Russell Boening, President, Texas Farm Bureau

“How can I and my fellow farmers stay in business? Number 1 [priority] is crop insurance. Crop insurance is indispensable.”
— Ben Scholz, National Association of Wheat Growers

“Crop insurance – please protect it. Crop insurance is so vitally important. It is a key component to obtaining credit.”
— Bruce Peterson, Minnesota Corn Growers

“I can assure you [crop insurance] has become a critical tool that is equally as important as the amazing technological advancements that have made our farms the most efficient and productive in the world.”
— Rex Williamson, Crop Insurance Agent

“Without question, the most important USDA program is federal crop insurance. Crop insurance offers risk protection to many agricultural commodities and when disaster strikes, the indemnity check is in our bank account much sooner than any other USDA program.”
— Amy France, Kansas Farm Bureau

“I think the crop insurance program has been a pretty incredible program. It’s worked really well.”
— Mary Kay Thatcher, American Farm Bureau Federation

Risk Management

“Crop insurance absolutely helps us manage risk. We’ve had increased frequency of crop loss and I cannot imagine trying to survive without it. There are not many business models that can withstand the kind of volatility that we are experiencing.”

— Juliette King McAvoy, Farmer
Central Lake, Michigan

“Needless to say, if we hadn’t purchased crop insurance our first year of farming, my cousin and I would be spending years paying off that production loan. And without this valuable risk management tool available, I’d venture to say many more of America’s farmers would have been joining us.”
— Scott Reilly, Farmer and Crop Insurance Agent
Spalding, Nebraska

“Federal crop insurance provides an effective risk management tool to farmers and ranchers of all sizes when they are facing losses beyond their control, reduces taxpayer risk exposure, makes hedging possible to help mitigate market volatility and provides lenders with greater certainty that loans made to producers will be repaid.”
— Tom Lahey, Vice President, Kansas Cotton Association

“If you have a hurricane, a flood, tornadoes—all the natural disasters you can have—when the federal government comes in…it’s 100% paid by taxpayers. But with crop insurance, the farmers are paying into it, and you are buying ahead and you are trying to manage your risk.”
— Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)

“Risks go way beyond what I can control so it’s a really good thing to have crop insurance. It gives us a little bit of a safety net, so we know we’re going to be able to farm again next year.”
— Dustin Johnson, Farmer
Andover, Iowa

“Crop insurance is an essential tool I have to have. I hardly ever collect on it, but I need it to be able to manage my risk.”
— Mark Sherry, Farmer
Walla Walla County, Washington

“We purchase crop insurance for our family farm every year and have never filed a major claim. But that’s hardly the point. Like our fellow farmers, we purchase crop insurance for the same reasons we purchase home insurance or car insurance — with the hope we’ll never need it. But we’ll keep purchasing it every year because some day we might.”
— Scott VanderWal, Farmer
Volga, South Dakota

“We try to mitigate risk whenever we can and crop insurance is another tool in the toolbox so you have something backing you up if you have a crop failure.”
— Logan Good, Farmer
Great Falls, Montana

“Thankfully, today we do have some tools in place to help deal these types of weather-related risks. One of the most important tools is an efficient crop insurance program for our nation’s farmers and ranchers.”
— Steve Wooten, Rancher
Kim, Colorado

“It’s an honor to grow food for America and the world. But it’s also much riskier than a paycheck from an employer, like when I worked as an engineer. Crop insurance for me, as a young producer, is a critical risk management tool.”
— Brian Martin, Farmer
Boone County, Missouri

“The cornerstone of the 2014 farm bill was crop insurance. Our first need and want [in the next Farm Bill] is to maintain that support of our crop insurance program, to make sure our farmers have that risk management tool.”
— Zippy Duvall, President, American Farm Bureau Federation

“It is very misleading to consider federal crop insurance a hand-out when its purpose is to provide a risk management tool when unforeseeable conditions arise.”
— Ben Adams, Farmer and President, Washington Association of Wheat Growers

“Earlier this year, within a short span, my crop was impacted by a late season blizzard, disease, and a hail storm. Crop insurance didn’t allow me to make a profit, but rather recover some of my loss and enabled me to farm another year.”
— David Schemm, Farmer and President, National Association of Wheat Growers

“Even the best-laid plans sometimes go wrong. No one knows this more than a farmer. This is why most farmers purchase crop insurance. It is the one part of the plan that holds together in a crisis. It is a tool that farmers rely upon when things go awry.”
— Luke Sandrock, Crop Insurance Agent

“Farmers borrow more in one year to produce a crop than most Americans do in a lifetime. Our growers, and our bankers, need strong risk management tools like crop insurance that are essential in order to secure operating loans to grow our crop.”
— Kyle Peterson, Chairman, Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative

“When there’s a crop loss, there’s going to be a loss of income on the farm but with a good crop insurance program, and working capital, we may help them farm another year.”
— Howard Olsen, AgCountry Farm Credit Services

“I was involved in a hailstorm this year where we lost the corn and the bean crop on one farm. With crop insurance, we’re not going to make any money at that this year, but I am going to be able to farm again next year because of risk management tools.”
— Kevin Paap, President, Minnesota Farm Bureau

“The federal crop insurance program has been and continues to be farmers’ most important risk management tool. A farmer might go many years paying premiums for a policy and rarely get an indemnity.”
— David Schemm, President, National Association of Wheat Growers

“Sometimes folks are quick to criticize crop insurance because they don’t realize that, like agriculture, the program touches every state in the nation. It has proven itself to be our most effective risk-management tool.”
— Steve Van Voorhis, Farmer and Crop Insurance Agent

Food Security

“Crop insurance is a total protection plan for our food supply. If you lose your farmers, you lose your food. It’s that simple.”
— Jeff Coke, Farmer
Owensboro, Kentucky

“Programs like crop insurance, livestock gross margin insurance, and FSA guarantees are essential to maintain a stable and secure food system. Overall, net farm income was down nearly 50 percent from 2013 to 2016, and if net farm income continues to fall, the risk management programs may be the only remaining safeguard.”
— Andy Snider, Farmer
Hart, Michigan

“We desperately want to be able to feed America…and crop insurance is…one of the tools they have to do that.”
— Kay Rentzel, National Peach Council

Farm Policy

“Crop insurance and farm policy enables everyone – from the farmer to the banker to the taxpayer – to plan for those disasters and overcome them when they happen. If lawmakers continue to try and chip away at this safety net, farmers will not have the ability to survive. This is especially true for young, beginning farmers who have less access to credit and capital.”
— Larry Kummer, Market President, Northeast Indiana Horizon Bank

“Operating loans are essential for every farmer because of the cost of producing crops, but for my family, they have enabled us to keep going to the next year despite depressed yields and prices, and in some cases the inability to plant a crop at all. And we would not be able to receive this crucial financing without crop insurance and farm policy in place.”
— Lorraine Greco, Farmer
Sacramento Valley, California

“It’s a big concern of mine that there is a constant need to defend crop insurance against the myths and outright lies that these special interest groups spread in Washington and beyond. And, frankly, sometimes, I’m amazed that there is so much debate in Congress about the small investment in crop insurance and farm policy, considering the return for every American.”
— Jeremy Brown, Farmer
Lubbock, Texas

“First and foremost, this bill ensures crop insurance remains a vital risk management tool for farmers.”
— Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL) on the 2018 Farm Bill

“We must continue a crop insurance program, expand trade opportunities overseas and rebuild rural infrastructure.”
— Todd Vanhoose, Farm Credit Council

“By signing this bill we are protecting our crop insurance program. We’re going to work it out to help those farms and farmers who were hit by hurricanes this year.”
— Former President Donald Trump on the signing of the 2018 Farm Bill

“As a member of the House Ag committee, I also understand the necessity of this bill in strengthening several key provisions. This includes protecting crop insurance.”
— Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-IL) on the 2018 Farm Bill

“Farm country needs a multi-year bill that protects crop insurance, tightens the safety net, opens markets, and makes responsible investments in our communities.”
— Rep. Roger Marshall (R-KS)

“We’ve protected a strong safety net by maintaining a crop insurance program that will allow producers to stay competitive and be more innovative.”
— Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA)

“We both start out recognizing that crop insurance is number one, right? So we maintain crop insurance. That’s our number one risk management tool for our farmers on the safety net.”
— Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND)

“We can all agree that our farmers should have robust risk management tools, including strong crop insurance assistance and new tools for our dairy farmers who’ve been struggling. … I do not believe these critical programs should be targeted for cuts.”
— Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chair, Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

“There are a few misconceptions out there about crop insurance, which have become especially widespread during the ongoing Farm Bill negotiations. But let’s be clear: Crop insurance is not a handout.”
— Jeremy Hinton, Farmer and Crop Insurance Agent
Hodgenville, Kentucky

“Farm policy critics would do well to remember that every American consumer relies on agriculture. We all want healthy, fresh food for our families. We also want affordable food. In today’s difficult farm economy, crop insurance provides an important measure of stability.”
— Dorian Culver, Farmer and Crop Insurance Agent
Harrisonville, Missouri

“Our farmers want to be out in the field planting the crops and harvesting them to sell at market for a reasonable price. The best way to give them the chance to do that is to keep crop insurance affordable and widely available in the next Farm Bill.”
— G. Bradford Reeves, Crop Insurance Agent

“I have fought to expand and strengthen crop insurance for all farmers, from expanding coverage to specialty crop growers, organic producers, and beginning farmers, to providing a whole-farm option for diversified farms.”
— Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chair, Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

“American farmers are the most efficient in the world, but we need strong farm policies that give us the right tools, like reliable credit and a vibrant crop insurance program, in order to keep meeting our growing global food, fiber and energy needs.”
— Jimmy Dodson, Chairman, Farm Credit Bank of Texas

“Crop insurance works well because it is a tool available to farmers of all sizes in all geographic regions. Congress should not upset this delicate balance by discriminating against one group of growers and weakening their ability to manage risk.”
— Bill Pearson, Crop Insurance Agent

“Prices are also low today, but modern crop insurance takes the fear out of farming. No wonder crop insurance is the top policy priority for most farmers in this upcoming farm bill.”
— Jim Obermiller, Farmer
Loup City, Nebraska