Hartwell Huddleston is a recipient of the 2024 Crop Insurance Industry Outstanding Outreach Award, which was presented during the 2024 Crop Insurance Industry Annual Convention in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Outstanding Outreach award recognizes an individual who provides outstanding service to all farmers, including outreach to small, limited resource, and socially disadvantaged farmers.

Hartwell Huddleston is a crop insurance agent and the president of Delta Crop Insurance. Over the years, he and his team have made themselves an invaluable resource for the African American farming community in their area, and to the broader communities surrounding the towns of Rolling Fork and Greenville in Mississippi. Their hard work and tireless outreach are more than deserving of recognition by the NCIS.

The team at Delta Crop Insurance provides exemplary service to every one of their producers, treating each farmer the same as any other including those with limited resources or a lack of prior knowledge about crop insurance. They always make themselves available to each of their clients and are a constant source of education and service for growers in the area. Each year, they are careful to ensure that all their policyholders are equipped with the knowledge and resources they need to navigate planting season and the acreage reporting and production reporting deadlines.

Even in the face of tragedy, Mr. Huddleston and his employees act as stalwart servants of their farmers and of their community. In March of 2023, Rolling Fork was devastated by a catastrophic tornado. Though the Delta Crop Insurance office was destroyed, the team continued to fight for their policyholders every single day. Battling damaged infrastructure and communication challenges, they managed to reach out to all their growers—especially those with limited resources, who were most vulnerable to the effects of the disaster—to make sure their needs were met, their claims were worked, and they had what they needed to keep farming.

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PHOTO: Hartwell Huddleston was presented with a 2024 Crop Insurance Outstanding Outreach award by Scott Arnold (right) Chair of the National Crop Insurance Services Board of Directors, and Tom Zacharias (left), President of National Crop Insurance Services.

Jaime Cortes is a recipient of the 2024 Crop Insurance Industry Outstanding Outreach Award, which was presented during the 2024 Crop Insurance Industry Annual Convention in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Outstanding Outreach award recognizes an individual who provides outstanding service to all farmers, including outreach to small, limited resource, and socially disadvantaged farmers.

Jaime Cortes, Marsh McLennan, exhibits exemplary service and outreach to Native American agriculture producers. Jamie has represented his agency and the industry well, providing Native American agriculture producer education on Rainfall Index/Pasture Rangeland and Forage, livestock programs and Whole-Farm Revenue Protection.

While relatively new to crop insurance, Jaime focuses his time educating producers on the benefits provided by the Rainfall Index and livestock programs. Jaime recognized that many tribe members throughout the Pacific Northwest were raising cattle and had enormous risks that could be managed utilizing PRF and livestock programs. He took it upon himself to attend a Northwest Intertribal Council (IAC) meeting to better understand the risks Native agriculture producers face.

Following this meeting, Jamie was able to meet with several members of the Northwest IAC to provide them with information about the risk management solutions available to producers and ranchers. Following the meeting, one attendee remarked that he was the first person in 20 years to discuss crop insurance with this group. That meeting sparked many additional meetings with several other tribe councils and ag groups throughout the Pacific Northwest to discuss the benefits of utilizing crop insurance to manage risk. Jaime’s focus is to educate producers and ranchers on the ability to utilize tools to cover production cost with the various MPCI programs available.

Jaime efforts are recognized by others within industry. After leading a presentation on Livestock Disaster Resources at the 2022 IAC Annual Conference, he has been asked to return to the 2023 IAC Annual Conference as a panelist discussing crop insurance. Jamie has also submitted a proposal to lead another presentation on LRP, PRF, Weaned Calf and WFRP/Micro Farm at the conference, continuing his goal to educate Native agriculture producers on the tools available to them.

Jaime has demonstrated his commitment to outreach and education to these underserved producers and ranchers. His goal is to provide information to producers/ranchers, so they can utilize all the risk management tools available to protect their farms and ranches.

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PHOTO: Jaime Cortes was presented with a 2024 Crop Insurance Outstanding Outreach award by Scott Arnold (right) Chair of the National Crop Insurance Services Board of Directors, and Tom Zacharias (left), President of National Crop Insurance Services.

Ron Rutledge was the recipient of the 2024 Crop Insurance Industry Lifetime Achievement Award presented during the 2024 Crop Insurance Industry Annual Convention held in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Lifetime Achievement Award is designed to recognize individuals who consistently demonstrate outstanding leadership to the crop insurance industry.

The lasting impact Ron Rutledge has made on the crop insurance industry will be felt for many years to come through his actions and through those he has mentored. After a 40-year-career at Farmers Mutual Hail, the “retiree” is still spending his days on Capitol Hill fighting for crop insurance as Congress reviews a new Farm Bill. From testifying to the Senate while serving as Chairman of CIRB in 2017, to walking with CIRB Emerging Leaders as they meet with members of congress each spring, he continues to champion the safety net of America’s farmers.

During his four decades at FMH, Ron held multiple leadership roles. In his tenure as president and CEO (2010-2021), he grew the company’s footprint from regional to national through the acquisition of John Deere Insurance Company, and he led the company to achieving its first billion-dollar premium milestone. He helped to usher in new technologies, including using precision data for crop insurance, as well as managed the unprecedented change in the workplace during the COVID pandemic.

Ultimately, Ron’s easy-going personality makes him approachable for many folks across the industry, and his impact can be felt in the people he worked alongside and mentored, especially at FMH. Those that know him can attest to his friendliness, knowledge, and passion for crop insurance.

Ron has served or currently serves on:

• The Board of Directors for National Crop Insurance Services (NCIS), as well as various committees throughout the years
• The Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Crop Insurance and Reinsurance Bureau (CIRB),
• The Board of Directors for the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC)
• The Board of Directors for the Iowa Insurance Institute

Other notable achievements:

• During his term as Chairman of the Board for CIRB in 2017, he testified before the Senate Agriculture Committee on behalf of the crop insurance industry.
• During his tenure as president at FMH, Ron doubled the company’s premium from $500 million to $1 billion, as well as grew FMH to serve a national footprint.
• Ron has served on the FMH Board of Directors for 30 years.

In addition to Ron’s service to the industry, he has used his leadership positions to bring positive change to others. From shaving his head to raise funds for childhood cancer research, to increasing donations to local food banks during the pandemic, Ron makes sure a culture of giving and caring for the community is felt at FMH and beyond.

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PHOTO: Ron Rutledge was presented with the 2024 Crop Insurance Industry Lifetime Achievement Award by Scott Arnold (right), Chair of the National Crop Insurance Services Board of Directors. Tom Zacharias (left), President of National Crop Insurance Services.

Michael Connealy, Hudson Crop Insurance, was the recipient of the 2021 Crop Insurance Industry Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition for his many years of leadership and contributions to the crop insurance industry. The award was presented during the 2021 Crop Insurance Industry Annual Convention, which was held virtually on February 9.

Connealy grew up on a family farm in Eastern Nebraska and graduated from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln in 1976. His first insurance experience was in the farm property business with Employers Mutual in Des Moines, Iowa. His crop insurance career began in 1979 with a crop hail managing general agency (MGA), American Agrisurance (AmAg) out of the Omaha/Council Bluffs area.

Connealy was with AmAg during the period of time that the Crop Insurance Act of 1980 was working its way through Congress. He then attended the public-private sector kickoff event in November of 1980. This landmark meeting included numerous Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) people and just as many from dozens of private sector companies interested in the future.

During his time with AmAg, between 1982 and 1983, Connealy was a member of the Crop Hail Insurance Actuarial Association (CHIAA) committee that worked with the FCIC to develop the Actual Production History (APH) program. His service to the industry also included a position on the National Crop Insurance Association (NCIA) Board of Directors in the late 1980s, just prior to the CHIAA/NCIA merger into what is now our National Crop Insurance Services (NCIS) organization.

Connealy remained with AmAg until early in 1991 when he left to join the efforts of Norwest Bank Corporation to enter the crop insurance business. He moved to the Twin Cities area of Minnesota in 1992 as an executive with Crop Hail Management (CHM). The parent company, Norwest, then acquired the original version of National Ag Underwriters (NAU) and merged the two into Rural Community Insurance Services (RCIS).

Connealy spent the next several years as President and CEO of RCIS, which became the industry’s largest provider. During this same period, he contributed valuable time and expertise to NCIS. He spent many years on the NCIS Board of Directors, including advancement through the executive committee and two years as Chairman. The late 1990s and early 2000s were turbulent times for the crop insurance industry – survival was not always certain and leadership from the company executives, including Connealy, was key to moving forward.

Connealy left RCIS and joined Producers Ag Insurance Company (ProAg) in 2006. For the next twelve years, he worked successfully to help make ProAg an industry player on a national scale. His role as President at ProAg was his 5th position as President of an Approved Insurance Provider (AIP). This is perhaps a record in the crop insurance private sector after also having served as President of AmAg, CHM, NAU and RCIS during his long and distinguished career.

Connealy was deeply involved as an industry resource in the negotiation of the Standard Reinsurance Agreement (SRA) with FCIC beginning in the 1980s and including each such session up to and including the SRA released in 2011. Most notably, he was fortunate to testify in front of both agriculture committees of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, and following the passage of the enabling crop insurance act, he was part of that initial meeting between the FCIC and private industry to determine the transition to this new relationship. This meeting was the seed that led private companies to becoming master marketing contractors with the FCIC to in order to help manage and transition the legacy FCIC business. His historical perspective on this critical subject is likely unmatched in both the current public and private sector.

In April of 2020, after a two-year retirement stint, Connealy accepted an employment offer from Hudson Crop. Despite his 40 plus years of industry accomplishments and contributions, he shared that after his initial enthusiasm with retirement passed, it became apparent that with his good health and still relatively young age, he had more to contribute to the industry he has dedicated so much of his life to.

Kelly Garrett, Great American Insurance Group, was the recipient of the 2021 Crop Insurance Industry Leadership Award in recognition for consistently serving the industry and providing outstanding leadership through NCIS’ regional/state committees. The award was presented during the 2021 Crop Insurance Industry Annual Convention, which was held virtually on February 9.

Garrett has more than 27 years of experience in the crop insurance industry. He started in the industry as an agent and in 2000, began working as an adjuster for North Central Crop Insurance as a claims representative.  Garrett currently oversees claims for Great American in western Nebraska, Wyoming, and eastern Colorado. He also helps train agents and adjusters.

Garrett is actively involved with the Nebraska, Iowa, and Colorado/Wyoming NCIS Regional/State Committees.  He is currently serving as Vice Chair for the CO/WY Committee, a position he has held several times, helping to promote crop insurance and setting up adjuster training schools.

“Kelly has always been a leader in the R/S Committees,” said Mark Flohr, National Crop Insurance Services staff liaison. “He involves himself with the operations of the committees and organization of the adjuster schools. He always exhibits courtesy and professionalism.”

For many years Garrett has led the team setting up the CO/WY adjuster schools that covered corn, dry beans, grain sorghum, millet, potatoes, soybeans, sugar beets, sunflowers, and wheat. He possesses in-depth knowledge of many crops and provides instruction during the schools. He arranges guest speakers for the annual meetings and assists with the Nebraska corn schools in Lincoln and Grand Island. He is the first to volunteer for these projects and has been involved with them for more than 15 years.

“I have always been able to count on Kelly to help,” Flohr said. “I know that the committees and adjuster schools are better for everyone because of his participation. The committee members respect him, and he is a tremendous asset to his company and the industry.”

Garrett lives in Kimball, Neb., and is very active in the outdoors whether it is golfing, hunting, or fishing, he will be there enjoying it.

PHOENIX—2017 was an historic year for crop insurance, with 311 million acres enrolled in the system.  For perspective, that’s an area roughly the size of California, Texas and New York combined.

The good news was delivered by Mike Day, chairman of National Crop Insurance Services (NCIS), during the industry’s annual meeting, which began yesterday.

He also told the group that insurers backed more than $106 billion worth of crops in 2017, up $6 billion since 2016.  And farmers paid $3.7 billion out of their own pockets for insurance protection – a more than $250 million increase from the year before.

“Today, crop insurance protects around 90 percent of the insurable land and more than 130 different kinds of crops,” said Day, who heads Rural Community Insurance Services (RCIS) for Zurich North America.  “Congress made crop insurance the cornerstone of farm policy, and it is important not just for farmers and rural communities, but for taxpayers and consumers alike.”

Despite its popularity, some farm policy opponents are angling to cut crop insurance funding in the upcoming Farm Bill debate.

Day said that would be a mistake, pointing out Congress’ efforts to make crop insurance affordable and available for farmers and economically viable enough to encourage efficient private-sector delivery.

“Interrupt any of those three pillars, as some farm policy critics are advocating, and you undo all the progress that has been made over the past three decades,” he noted.

NCIS President Tom Zacharias echoed Day’s comments and encouraged agriculture to work hand-in-hand during the Farm Bill to defend farmers’ primary risk management tool.  He also urged his colleagues to maintain their vigilance in providing superior customer service and coordinating with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“Farmers must continue to realize the economic value of today’s crop insurance system and have confidence that both government and the private sector are committed to its continued success,” Zacharias concluded.

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PHOENIX—The eyes of the agricultural community are on crop insurance this week as lawmakers, commodity leaders and insurers gather for the industry’s annual meeting.  To kick off the event, National Crop Insurance Services (NCIS) today released the first installment of an educational video series that examines the upcoming Farm Bill.

The “Risk Management Minute” videos plainly explain the consequences of legislative proposals that would drive up insurance costs for farmers, exclude some operations from coverage, and make the system less economically viable for the private sector.

Crop insurance’s cost-sharing structure – where farmers help offset taxpayer risk exposure by paying premiums and meeting deductibles – is the focus of the first piece.  Others will be made public throughout February.

“Congress used to call on taxpayers to pick up the pieces after Mother Nature struck,” the cost-share video explains. “Now, farmers help fund their own recovery.”

Farmers collectively pay between $3.5 billion and $4 billion a year in premiums, even in years without a disaster, NCIS noted.

Farmers also must shoulder, on average, 25 percent of losses before receiving aid.  Those deductibles have totaled more than $30 billion in farmer losses under the 2014 Farm Bill.

“That’s a lot, but some farm policy critics want to upend this cost-sharing agreement. They want to make insurance less affordable,” the video continued.

For example, one legislative proposal would cap the premium discounts that farmers receive from the government.  This would ultimately drive up farmer cost, reduce insurance participation and make unbudgeted, taxpayer-funded disaster bills more likely.

“Congress made crop insurance a cornerstone of U.S. farm policy for a reason.  It works.  It’s efficient.  It saves money.  And it’s popular,” the video concludes.  “No wonder so many farmers are saying ‘do no harm’ to crop insurance in the Farm Bill.”

The video can be viewed at www.CropInsuranceInAmerica.org and on NCIS’s social media channels.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 24, 2017
For more information, please contact Laurie Langstraat at 913-685-2767

(ARLINGTON, Va.) – The cost-sharing structure and the unique partnership between the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the private sector are key to the success of crop insurance, according to National Crop Insurance Services President Tom Zacharias.

Zacharias, who spoke today at the 2017 USDA Agricultural Outlook Forum, said crop insurance has become popular on Capitol Hill and in rural America because “it serves as a hand-up, not a handout, when farmers need help rebuilding after a disaster.”

“Farmers help fund their own safety net by paying premiums and by shouldering part of losses through deductibles,” he explained. “And private companies pay part of the indemnities when disaster strikes, helping shield taxpayers from risk.”

All told, farmers have collectively paid nearly $50 billion from their own pockets into the crop insurance system since 2000. Today, about 90 percent of U.S. farmland is insured, providing $100 billion in protection to more than 125 different kinds of crops in all 50 states.

Crop insurance is now the cornerstone of U.S. farm policy, Zacharias said, which was made possible by a close working relationship between the government and the private sector. Insurance providers and agents sell and service insurance policies, while the USDA oversees the program, making it affordable and widely available to all growers.

“As a result, farmers usually get assistance within days or weeks of a verified claim, not months or years as was the case with old ad hoc disaster bills,” he told the group.

This public-private partnership is also important to stamping out waste and protecting taxpayer investments in the farm safety net. The USDA sets guidelines and closely monitors all activities, and insurers spend millions every year on new research and technologies, as well as training and education programs.

Earlier this month, the USDA released crop insurance’s improper payment rate for 2016. This measure of efficiency and accuracy is required of all major federal programs, and crop insurance’s marks were twice as impressive as other government programs – 2 percent compared to the 4.67 percent government-wide average.

Zacharias believes these successes will serve crop insurance well as Congress begins debate of the next Farm Bill.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:February 8, 2017
For more information, please contact Laurie Langstraat at 913-685-2767

(BONITA SPRINGS, Fla.) – Leaders from the House Agriculture Committee expressed their continued support for crop insurance and urged agriculture to remain vigilant against farm policy critics during the upcoming Farm Bill debate.

The Committee’s Ranking Member, Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), spoke at the crop insurance industry’s annual conference this week, calling crop insurance “a safety net that really works for producers.”

He praised private-sector delivery as one of the main reasons for its success over the years.

“When the government tried to run crop insurance, it just didn’t work,” he said, referring to the period before private providers were tapped in 1980 to deliver insurance protection to farmers.

The public-private partnership that characterizes crop insurance today prioritizes customer service and innovates to meet the changing risks that farmers face, Peterson explained.

“We just need to make sure we keep it that way in the future,” he noted.  Peterson wasn’t alone in applauding the current structure of crop insurance.

Chairman Mike Conaway (R-Tex.) told the group via video message that private industry and a “motivated agent workforce on the ground,” have helped increase crop insurance participation over the years.  This, he said, has reduced taxpayer risk exposure and virtually eliminated the need for costly ad hoc disaster bills in agriculture.

“Put simply, crop insurance is working,” Conaway continued.  “For every farmer, banker, and rural businessman I talk to, they all remind me that crop insurance is the cornerstone of the farm safety net.”

Conaway noted that Farm Bill hearings would begin before the end of the month, and Peterson expressed his desire to deliver a bill before the end of the year.  To do so, Peterson stressed, agriculture and its allies must work together to beat back critics of farm policy who want to leave farmers with fewer risk management tools.

The Chairman agreed.  “We can win this fight.  We will win this fight because we are in the right,” he concluded.  “We stand for an industry that blesses this nation with every bushel or bale that’s produced.  This is an industry worth fighting for.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, contact Laurie Langstraat at 913-685-2767

(BONITA SPRINGS, Fla.)—Farmers, risk management professionals, government officials, and the lawmakers who made crop insurance the centerpiece of farm policy have a lot to be proud of, and working together to tout those successes will be important to securing a promising future, according to Mike Day, chairman of National Crop Insurance Services.

“The new Administration and Congress have signaled the ushering in of a new pro-business environment in D.C.,” he told colleagues yesterday at the crop insurance industry’s annual convention. And that is good news for crop insurance providers, which work in close partnership with the federal government to help farmers recoup after disasters.

“The crop insurance cost-sharing structure; its impressive record against waste, fraud and abuse; and its efficient private-sector delivery system should make it a priority with a new crop of decision makers,” he said.

Day, who heads Rural Community Insurance Services (RCIS) for Zurich North America, said crop insurance is particularly important for rural America today because farmers depend on strong risk management tools when extreme weather and tough economic conditions strike.

“Today’s economic climate gives us an excellent opportunity to display just how important the modern-day farm safety net is,” he said, adding that unity among crop insurers and the agricultural community will be key to telling that story.

“Our critics cannot succeed if agriculture is united and is working hand-in-hand to educate the public,” he continued. “We saw this first-hand during the budget battles of late 2015, and we are already seeing agriculture rally behind crop insurance in preparation for the upcoming Farm Bill debate.”

Such support for crop insurance is not surprising. More than 90 percent of America’s farmland was insured in 2016, protecting $100 billion worth of crops. And farmers paid $3.4 billion out of their own pockets to buy protection – a far cry of past farm policies that were completely funded by taxpayers.

“As we embark on our educational efforts, we must convey that crop insurance works because it is affordable for producers, because it is widely available, and because it is economically viable,” Day concluded. “Upset any of those components, and the entire crop insurance infrastructure is in disarray.”

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