Congressional Leaders, Administration Officials and Farm Groups Praise Crop Insurance

“Over the last 15 years, crop insurance is where we have been trying to help move farmers in terms of taking advantage of risk management tools for their crops,” House Majority Leader John Boehner told Agri-Pulse during a taped interview. The leader’s comments came as both the House and Senate began hearings on the next Farm Bill and would be debating the future of farm safety net programs.

Boehner assured listeners that crop insurance would remain as a centerpiece for managing risks on the farm. “It is still the central focus of where we think farmers ought to be able to have easy access to insure their crops and insure some type of revenue out of it. It makes the most sense to me and always has,” he noted.

Crop insurance enjoys strong support in the Obama Administration as well. USDA Under Secretary Michael Scuse told attendees at the 2013 crop insurance annual conference that recent weather disasters have put the nation’s crop insurance system to the test, and the popular public-private partnership had met the challenge. “To this day, I have yet to have a single producer call me with a complaint about crop insurance,” he said. “That is a testament to just how well your agents, your adjusters, the companies, and Risk Management Agency (RMA) worked together in one of the worst droughts in the history of this nation.”

Just days after those comments were made, a coalition of more than 40 commodity groups, lending organizations, input suppliers and other agricultural industry stakeholders sent a letter to members of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees in support of meaningful and affordable crop insurance.

The letter reminded elected officials that in agriculture, risk is always present and that crop loss will occur in some part of the United States each year.

“The significant, widespread crop losses of 2011 and 2012 have clearly demonstrated the need for crop insurance protection and the public-private partnership of program delivery,” the letter stated.

The signatories noted that crop insurance is the cornerstone of most farmers’ risk management portfolios, and that farmers pay a premium to enjoy its protection. “Federal crop insurance provides and 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 to producers will be repaid,” the letter stated.