Crop insurance is not acting as a barrier to the adoption of conservation practices and has a role in helping farmers maintain healthy soil. That’s according to a new peer-reviewed study in the renowned Journal of Environmental Management.

During the study, researchers from Purdue University, Arizona State University, and the Nature Conservancy used interviews and a multi-state survey to determine if crop insurance requirements limited cover crops and conservation tillage for corn producers in the Midwest.

“Questionnaire responses indicate that crop insurance was not limiting conservation adoption,” according to the study. “When given a list of potential limiting factors for conservation adoption, including cost and time/labor required, crop insurance was perceived as the least limiting, in comparison to all other factors, for both conservation tillage and cover crops.”

Conservation tillage and cover crops were specifically studied because, according to the researchers, these practices reduce soil erosion, improve water quality, and promote soil health.

The study noted that the federal Risk Management Agency, in the 2018 Farm Bill, designated cover crops planted in 2020 and later as a Good Farming Practice – a distinction that should help further promote the conservation practice.

Among the notable findings reported by the Journal of Environmental Management:

• Fewer than 6 percent of farmers believed crop insurance was limiting conservation adoption.
• Respondents were already using both crop insurance and conservation on their farms. 90 percent were enrolled in crop insurance, 60 percent used conservation tillage, and 25 percent planted cover crops.
• Adoption rates of conservation practices were higher among respondents enrolled in crop insurance than those not using crop insurance.
• Both crop insurance and conservation were credited by farmers as being important and complementary tools to their risk management strategies.

Despite the clear evidence that crop insurance requirements are not barriers to conservation, researchers lamented the fact that some members of the agricultural media are perpetuating a myth that crop insurance and cover crops are mutually exclusive.

“Posing these two behaviors as incompatible is misleading and unrepresentative of the broader agricultural population,” the researchers concluded.

Every day, farmers spend long hours working the land and caring for livestock so they can provide high-quality food at an affordable price for all Americans across the nation.

This amazing feat would not be possible, however, without the critical safety net that crop insurance provides.

Farming presents a unique set of risks and a farmer’s financial well-being relies on factors as unpredictable and varied as changes in weather, the spread of disease, or the rapid fluctuation of market conditions.

With such a wide variety of potential risks and the likelihood that any particular event is geographically concentrated – an entire county could see their growing season ruined within mere moments by a tornado or freeze – the traditional private industry insurance model simply would not work for crop insurance.

The government developed the public-private partnership of federal crop insurance in order to protect and support farmers and thereby helping to stabilize the economies of the rural communities that rely on agriculture, without leaving taxpayers solely on the hook financially.

Under this successful model, farmers contract with any one of the 15 private insurance companies authorized to sell crop insurance by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency, paying a premium in order to protect their crops. These insurance companies, or Approved Insurance Providers (AIP), work hand-in-hand with the federal government to help manage costs that would otherwise make coverage unattainable for the average farmer.

While the government sets rates and rules for the plans that can be sold and provides program oversight, it is the responsibility of the AIPs to write policies, as well as adjust and process claims. That means when disaster strikes, private industry can react quickly to assess damages and issue payments due, providing farmers and the communities who rely on their income with relative stability.

This public-private partnership requires farmers, private insurance companies, and the federal government to share the burden of risk and incentivizes private companies to reduce fraud, waste, and abuse.

Today, federal crop insurance protects more than 130 types of crops covering more than 330 million acres in all 50 states. So, from clams to cranberries, soybeans to sunflowers, our farmers can rest a bit easier knowing that this safety net exists.

And while farms and agriculture-related industries add over $900 billion annually to the American economy and create work for 21 million Americans, the cost for federal crop insurance represents just one quarter of one percent of the federal budget.

This seems like a worthwhile investment to ensure our farmers can continue providing food and fiber for our nation.

It’s been more than 25 years since a sitting U.S. President addressed the American Farm Bureau Federation.  But President Donald Trump made up for lost time with a rousing speech yesterday to the Farm Bureau convention in Nashville.

From tax and trade to immigration and infrastructure improvements, he touched on a myriad of important issues during a 35-minute speech.  Yet, it was his comments about farm policy and crop insurance that proved to be one of the afternoon’s biggest applause lines.

“I’m looking forward to working with Congress to pass the Farm Bill on time so that it delivers for all of you,” President Trump told the group of nearly 5,000. “And I support a bill that includes crop insurance.”

The President singled out Senator Roberts, a long-time champion for farm policy and for crop insurance, and praised his relentless efforts on behalf of agriculture.

“We are working hard on the Farm Bill, and I think it’s going to go well,” he noted.

President Trump’s support of a strong farm policy isn’t surprising, considering his opinion of America’s farm and ranch families.  The President opened his remarks with these observations:

We’ve been working every day to deliver for America’s farmers just as they work every single day to deliver for us.

 We know that our nation was founded by farmers.  Our independence was won by farmers.  Our continent was tamed by farmers, so true.  Our armies have been fed by farmers and made of farmers.  And, throughout our history, farmers have always, always, always led the way….

 The men and women in this room come from different backgrounds and from all across our land, but each of you carries the same title that’s been proudly borne by patriots and pioneers, inventers and entrepreneurs.  The title of, very proudly, American farmer.  Thank you very much.

He also explained, “Our farmers deserve a government that serves their interest and empowers them to do the hard work that they love to do so much.”

Assuming Congress agrees, rural America should expect a good Farm Bill sooner rather than later.

And that would provide lawmakers and President Trump the opportunity to take a victory lap next year.  He promised the group that he would be returning to help the Farm Bureau ring in their centennial convention next January.

Crop insurance has been hailed by lawmakers and farmers alike as an essential risk management tool during recent House and Senate Agriculture Committee hearings. Despite the praise, there are still critics who hope to weaken farmers’ protection against natural disaster and wild swings in the market.

Farm policy opponents are specifically aiming to cap the discounts farmers receive on insurance premiums, eliminate a key revenue insurance product pegged to commodity prices, and exclude some growers from the system altogether based on their income.

Such proposals are meant to target America’s biggest farms, but recent work out of the University of Illinois and Kansas State University shows that the effects would be far wider, hitting many family farms, too.

To get a better idea of the impact of a proposal to limit premium discounts, Dr. Gary Schnitkey of the University of Illinois looked at the heart of corn belt in McLean County, Illinois. The area has prime growing conditions with deep and fertile soils.

There, he found, farmers with insurance coverage on 85 percent of their crops, the highest amount offered, would hit the proposed $40,000 premium discount limit after 2,944 acres – a large farm, but by no means a giant operation.

Meanwhile Illinois counties where land isn’t as fertile, like Saline County, would hit the cap at the same coverage level on just 884 acres – a mid-sized farm similar to most family farming operations. This cap would be hit even sooner by growers considered riskier because of past losses or bad yields.

It’s not just Illinois either. Drs. Art Barnaby and Mykel Taylor from Kansas State found similar results in other Midwest states. For example, nearly 15 percent of Kansas farms would hit the cap, they noted.

The pain grows exponentially, Barnaby and Taylor explained, if farm policy critics are successful in eliminating harvest price tools available for revenue coverage. These tools enable a grower to insure a crop at its harvest price rather than its price at the time planting in order to take advantage of forward contracting opportunities.

Eliminating it, the researchers found, would “reduce crop insurance protection for nearly 95% of Iowa’s crop farmers…[and] about 80% to 90% of the crop acres in many other states, including Kansas.”

Another anti-agriculture proposal to exclude farmers with incomes over $250,000 from crop insurance benefits would also hit ag country, and it may not just hit large farms.

“Such a policy would likely impact farms that had high levels of off-farm income from a spouse and or other business activities,” according to Barnaby and Taylor. Furthermore, because most farmers’ incomes are tied to crop prices, some growers could be ineligible in some years and eligible in others, creating a compliance nightmare for the USDA and farmers alike.

From South Dakota to Washington, D.C., crop insurance received praise in high places for its ability to help farmers and ranchers withstand the perils of growing food and fiber.

“Crop insurance provides protection against the one thing that even the most resilient farmer cannot defeat – the wrath of Mother Nature,” wrote Scott VanderWal, the president of the South Dakota Farm Bureau and the vice president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, in an editorial published this week in the Argus Leader.

Highlighting the importance of agriculture to both the nation’s economy and to South Dakota, VanderWal makes the case that crop insurance plays a vital role in ensuring a secure and affordable food supply by providing a safety net when the farm economy is hurting.

“It’s essential that we preserve S.D.’s farm economy, not just for our economic well-being, but for all Americans,” he explains.

Meanwhile, in another part of the country, Ken Ackerman, the former manager of the USDA’s Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, along with his partner at Washington D.C.’s OFW Law Firm, Marshall Matz, penned an opinion piece that examined the steady growth and improvements to crop insurance since it started nearly 80 years ago and the need to preserve the program going forward.

“Today’s modern crop insurance system is a vast improvement over what existed just a few decades ago,” they write. “Sheer numbers tell much of the story. Federal crop insurance today covers almost 300 million areas of American farmland, over 90 percent for major commodities and over 70 percent for specialty crops, representing over $100 billion in insurance guarantees.”

As Congress soon begins work to reauthorize a new farm bill it will be crucial to grow support for crop insurance and sound farm policy so we can maintain and build upon this success.

As VanderWal concludes, “Old-fashioned hard work, innovation, and smart farm policies like crop insurance…will secure a bright future for us all.”

“I firmly believe that America’s first line of defense is our ability to feed and clothe the people,” Major General Darren G. Owens warned the House Committee on Agriculture during a recent hearing that focused on testimony from military leaders to highlight the link between agricultural production and national security.

Maj. General Owens continued to explain, “we would all be dependent on other nations” that would put our food security and national security at risk without strong agricultural production in this country.

These sentiments echo the beliefs of most Americans according to a recent national poll that the National Crop Insurance Services (NCIS) commissioned. By an 81 to 15 percent margin, voters polled said that, “a strong and thriving American farm industry is critical to American national security” with 92 percent of voters supporting federal spending to help farms and farmers.

In particular, Americans support crop insurance because it is a shared investment with a shared return for both farmers and taxpayers. Farmers purchase policies to protect their crops from catastrophic events and only receive an indemnity when they suffer a loss. The federal government discounts policy premiums to make policies affordable. Farmers have the peace of mind to know they can make it another year if a single hailstorm, flood, or drought destroys their crops. Taxpayers have assurances that they are not on the hook for costly, unbudgeted disaster assistance when calamity strikes.

“From my perspective, food security is first of all about ensuring that the plentiful supply of high quality food and agricultural products that we enjoy continues to be available,” said Major General James R. Sholar who also testified at the hearing.

Crop insurance ensures everyone has an affordable and secure food supply, which ultimately makes us a more secure nation.

The first quarter of the year is always busy in agricultural circles, with most farming organizations – including the National Crop Insurance Services – holding annual conventions to discuss the issues likely to face farmers in the upcoming year. The National Farmers Union’s show usually completes the pre-Spring meeting circuit, and this year they are doing it with a packed program that kicked off over the weekend. President Barack Obama addressed the group via video. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is there in person. And attendees will also hear from Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton (D), U.S. Senators Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and retired U.S. Army General Wesley Clark.

Amid these headliners will be one of crop insurance’s own, Jim Korin, the president of QBE NAU, who will tell the group why crop insurance must remain affordable, available, and economically viable to succeed in the future.

Crop insurers appreciate NFU’s invitation to address its members, and we certainly appreciate NFU’s support of a strong crop insurance system throughout the years. The organization was an essential component of the coalition that beat back legislative attempts last year to reopen the Farm Bill and weaken farmers’ primary risk management tool.

To say thanks, we wanted to spotlight a couple of great quotes from Farmers Union leaders:

“The evolution to crop insurance has effectively moved risk management away from the public sector, funded exclusively by taxpayer dollars, and toward the private sector, where farmers and crop insurance companies help shoulder part of the cost of natural disasters. This is good for taxpayers because it takes them off the hook for the entire bill when disaster strikes, good for farmers who must always keep their risk management plan in mind, and good for rural America because farmers are the engines that generate economic activity.”

Kent Wright, President Northwest Farmers Union
Capital Press, June 18, 2015

“With three consecutive negative farm income forecasts, we simply cannot afford to undercut the farm safety net. NFU urges Congress to reject…crop insurance cuts, as it has in years’ past.”

Roger Johnson, President, National Farmers Union
NFU Press Release, February 9, 2016

Thanks again for your continued support, NFU members. And have a great show as you close out the farm convention season in style.

California’s central valley has been called America’s salad bowl, but honestly in the last four years, it looks more like a dust bowl than a vegetable garden.  The historic drought has caused many California farmers to pay prices for water – just to keep their orchards alive – that most Americans would find unfathomable.

Almond, stone fruit, grape and citrus owners once paid roughly $70 per acre foot to ensure that their long term investments had enough water to remain healthy and productive.  That cost is now as much as $1,300 per acre foot – about an 1800 percent increase – all while the retail value of their crops has risen very little in comparison.

Estimates are that 170,000 jobs in Kern County alone are directly connected to farming and harvesting.  But the number of jobs connected to supporting those farmers, growers and harvesters is around eight times that amount.  Crop insurance acts as an underpinning for all of these important jobs and productivity that represent a sizeable portion of our economy.

In the past, a wide scale disaster of this magnitude would have triggered a series of very expensive ad hoc disaster bills paid for exclusively by taxpayers.  But there has not been a single disaster bill passed even though this drought refuses to release its grip.  And that’s because nowadays, farmers are able to purchase the protection and peace of mind of crop insurance.

Crop insurance is a public private partnership whereby farmers purchase policies with their own money, and the policies are sold and serviced by participating companies and agents.

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.

Farmers prefer crop insurance because it allows them to pay a premium to help remove some degree of risk from a very volatile business.   Twenty years ago, many farmers had never heard of crop insurance.  Today, crop insurance protects more than 90 percent of planted acres nationally.

A crop insurance check will never come close to what a farmer can get from a good harvest.   But it does offer farmers some peace of mind so that they know that if Mother Nature gets ugly, they can bounce back and be in business again next year.  That’s good for consumers, who don’t want their food supply disrupted, and good for the rural economy as well.

When I began this career 13 years ago, I was surprised that bankers were making loans without the guarantee of crop insurance.  Obviously, that doesn’t happen much anymore. In fact, it’s very difficult for farmers to get a loan at all without a crop insurance policy in hand.

Of course, crop insurance has its critics who try and make the program sound like another federal handout.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  In fact, when farmers purchase crop insurance, they receive a bill, not a check. And only receive a payment if they incur a loss greater than a deductible amount chosen a year in advance.  Just like homeowners insurance, farmers buy crop insurance hoping they won’t have to use it, but rest better at night knowing they are more secure.

Yes, this drought has been historic and is about as stubborn as a drought can be.  But farmers are hardworking, honest and smart businessmen and women who have armed themselves with the best tools possible to weather this storm.  And crop insurance has ensured that California’s central valley will remain America’s fruit and vegetable garden for generations to come.

Todd Snider is a crop insurance agent, Kern County Farm Bureau director, Bakersfield Homeless Center director, and resides in Bakersfield, California.

This op-ed appeared in the Bakersfield Californian on November 3, 2015.

Ranking Member of the House Agriculture Committee Collin Peterson (D-MN) warns that one of the biggest dangers to crop insurance is criticism from groups who are trying to undermine the important risk management tool through the appropriations process before the entire Farm Bill is even fully enacted.  “The danger is that some of the people who are making noise about this, if they get their way, they will destroy crop insurance,” said Peters on a recent Agri-Pulse Open Mic interview with Jeff Nalley. “That’s the danger.”

Peterson notes that he has already met with crop insurance companies that are considering pulling out of the program altogether because of the ongoing attacks focusing on profit margins and the premium support offered to farmers.  “I had the underwriters and reinsurance companies in my office asking me questions about where this thing is going,” and explaining that their board of directors are questioning if the company should stay in the business or not.

Peterson explains that what is most concerning is that these questions are coming from the only companies in the business who are offering national coverage.  “If they get payment limitations on big farmers, that will bring this thing down,” he said.  Peterson added that Congress has probably already pushed the participating crop insurance companies farther than they should have with the Standard Reinsurance Agreement (SRA) and the 2008 Farm Bill.  “Hopefully we can explain to people as we fight this fight just how precarious this situation is,” he says.

Peterson says that in a worst-case scenario, we could end up with a situation where entire states can no longer get crop insurance coverage.  “You could have a situation where, for example, North Dakota, for example, would not be able to get insurance,” he said.   “Crop insurance is what keeps family agriculture and smaller farmers going,” noted Peterson.  “It’s so expensive to farm, the banker isn’t going to finance you if you don’t have a way to pay him back, which is what crop insurance does.”

Peterson notes that crop insurance is critical to the future of family farming in the U.S. “The most important thing to keeping family farms and getting young people into agriculture is crop insurance,” he adds.

Listen to the entire interview here.

Crop insurance continues to grow in popularity, with 90 percent of planted cropland being protected by crop insurance in 2013, former USDA Chief Economist Keith Collins told Agri-Pulse radio host Ken Root during a recent interview on “Open Mic.”

Root asked Collins why he had decided to return to working on crop insurance after his retirement from USDA. Collins noted that he had worked as Chairman of the Board of Federal Crop Insurance Corporation for seven years while at USDA. “I started in 2000 when we had a couple of hundred million acres insured and I watched that program grow dramatically,” he said. “I looked out at the landscape and it seemed apparent that crop insurance was going to be the most important and most powerful program to help the financial security of American agriculture,” he said.

Root pointed out that it took a long time for the crop insurance program to reach its full potential because Congress continually undercut its success with disaster programs. “That is absolutely true,” said Collins. “We had standing disaster programs in the 1970s, ad hoc disaster programs from the 1930s,” he said. Collins noted that when farmers were protected by those other programs, plus standing disaster bills, plus ad hoc disaster bills, “there wasn’t a big need for crop insurance for a lot of farmers.”

Root pointed out that today, farmers and farm organizations are saying that if they could only get one thing from the federal government, it would be crop insurance. “The government supports critical sectors for which there is public interest, and agriculture is one of those sectors,” said Collins. “And within agriculture, what is the primary safety net for famers,” he asked? “It’s crop insurance.”

Root asked if it was possible to get crop insurance coverage for the country without government involvement. Collins pointed out that “Congress has historically said that we’re willing to put more money in to get farmers to buy crop insurance so that we can cover the acreage that needs to be covered in the U.S. to avoid ad hoc disaster assistance and financial disruption.”

It is hard to talk about the state of Alabama without mentioning agriculture. Alabama boasts more than 48,000 farms, covering roughly 28 percent of the state.

But being a farmer in the Deep South – given our weather patterns – is like owning an unpredictable dog. One day it loves you, the next day, it bites you.

In farming, when that dog decides to bite you, it comes in the form of powerful thunderstorms, hurricanes or droughts. That’s why for every year of the last thirty-five years that I’ve farmed, I purchase crop insurance. In fact, I can’t even conceive of farming without crop insurance.

In the past, when large-scale natural disasters hit farmers, Congress was immediately pressured to pass expensive, ad hoc disaster bills that were completely paid for by the public. Such disaster bills, while appreciated by farmers, took up to a year or more to arrive. But farmers need money in hand quickly after disaster strikes, because they must start planning, and purchasing inputs, for the next season.

That’s the beauty of crop insurance. First of all, taxpayers aren’t stuck footing the whole bill if and when disaster strikes. Crop insurance is purchased by each individual farmer, tailored specifically to the crops grown, the land the farm sits on and the farmer’s tolerance for risk.

Crop insurance isn’t cheap by any stretch of the imagination. The policies I purchase cost several hundred thousand dollars a year. But I consider that just a cost of production, because if disaster strikes, I can expect my crop insurance indemnity in about a month or less, not the years it takes for federal help to arrive. Those months saved can mean the difference between success and failure in farming.

Farmers across the country spent $4.1 billion purchasing crop insurance policies in 2012. The policies purchased insured 271 million acres, or roughly 86 percent of all planted cropland in the U.S.

But farmers aren’t the only group that has come to love crop insurance. Bankers love it too. That’s because when farmers approach bankers for production loans, bankers regard a crop insurance policy as a form of collateral. Additionally, bankers know that a farmer who has paid his own money for a crop insurance policy is a farmer who has risk management in mind.

Of course like any other public policy, crop insurance has its enemies. Some of those groups used last year’s historic drought to not only criticize the availability of crop insurance, but to also attack the character of farmers like me, who purchase it. One group said that farmers were “praying for drought, not rain,” implying that farmers would get rich from their crop insurance policies.

I was one of those farmers who suffered from the drought last year and let me set the record straight: We do everything we can to have the highest production possible every year. We select a good variety of seed, purchase the best fertilizer and do everything we can to protect the crop. If there ever were any farmers trying to live off of crop insurance, they’re long gone. The cost of production is just too high.

But if America is going to continue to enjoy its plentiful and affordable food supply, the country must also focus on helping the next generation of farmers to gain their footing and learn the trade. To that end, I am a founding member and Chairman of the National Black Growers Council, which serves as a network for black men and women who are involved in agriculture. Our mission is to improve the viability and profitability of the black row crop farmers, and to develop black talent for the next generation of farmers.

To that next generation of farmers who is seeking my advice, one of the first things I’d tell them is to make sure crop insurance is a line item in your annual budget. Because all of the best farming practices in the world aren’t going to stop Mother Nature from raining on your parade, at least every now and then.

Bill Bridgeforth farms corn, cotton, soybeans and canola and lives in Tanner, Alabama.

This op-ed appeared in the Athens News Courier, on April 26, 2013.