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.

Ken Ackerman, a former Administer for USDA’s Risk Management Agency and now a Washington D.C. based legal counsel, recently wrote a blog post explaining why that  drop matters.

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 of North Star Opinion Research, the research firm that conducted the poll.

I use crop insurance as a safety net to protect my assets in case of a fallout disaster. Younger producers use it to go to the bank to borrow for operating loans and tell them, ‘I’m protected.’

Farmers buy crop insurance for the same reason drivers purchase auto insurance: it offers some degree of stability in times of disaster. Crop insurance has become, in essence, the nation’s insurance policy for the food supply. When Mother Nature strikes and farmers lose their crops, those with crop insurance policies in hand can bounce back and plant again the next year.

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 that have less access to credit and capital.

The United States learned through experience that handling natural disasters after the fact is not only destabilizing for farmers but expensive for taxpayers.  To encourage more farmers to purchase crop insurance – thus laying their personal risk management groundwork before a possible disaster – the government began helping discount premiums to ensure that coverage is affordable, available to everyone, and economically viable.

In the wake of a devastating disaster, crop insurance offers a lifeline. It is one of the most important, reliable, and cost-effective parts of the safety net here in the United States.

As a crop insurance agent who was on more than a few farms the day after Hurricane Katrina struck, I can tell you first hand that crop insurance was a financial lifeline for many farmers.  Katrina hit so many farmers who had never before gone through a large-scale natural disaster that wiped out their entire crop at harvest time.

Mother Nature is the toughest, most unpredictable boss. Farmers are resilient and they adapt, but a safety net is crucial to their survival. And, it’s not a safety net if it’s not affordable.

I would not have had the opportunity to grow my farm without crop insurance.

Farmers buy crop insurance to protect their crops from volatile weather and/or crop prices.  It gives farmers and lenders peace of mind.  The 2014 Farm Bill solidified crop insurance as the primary tool for farmers in dealing with production and price risk.  Farmers urged Congress to strengthen crop insurance because it allows them to tailor the coverage needed for their specific farms and risk tolerance.

The bill also strengthens crop insurance, which is an essential cost-effective risk management tool. With crop insurance, farmers invest in their own risk management by purchasing insurance policies so they are protected in difficult times. Crop insurance also helps protect Americans from spikes in food prices. Without crop insurance farmers would have no way to recover from disaster unless the government steps in and provides unplanned disaster assistance.