Corn, cotton, sorghum, spring wheat rates revised too<\/p>\n
* USDA will phase in changes to cushion drought impact<\/p>\n
* Agency expects little impact on 2013 planting decisions<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON, Nov 28 (Reuters) – The U.S. government has ordered crop insurers to charge lower premiums to soybean growers for the second year in a row as part of rate revisions for six major crops, even as many farmers collect on claims following this year’s severe drought.<\/p>\n
The changes are part of an Agriculture Department project to improve the actuarial soundness of the crop insurance program, which is federally subsidized but privately run.<\/p>\n
Lenders often require insurance or other collateral to be pledged by farmers to assure repayment of farm operating loans. USDA pays 62 cents of each $1 in premiums, which totaled $11 billion this year.<\/p>\n
USDA’s Risk Management Agency on Wednesday said that the revised rates are not expected to affect planting decisions among various crops in 2013.<\/p>\n
The new rates will be phased in “to limit year-to-year premium changes and potential increases due to losses experienced in 2012 as a result of drought,” the agency said.<\/p>\n
Indemnities for crop losses could hit a record $20 billion this year following the worst drought in half a century, analysts say, double the mark set in 2011. So far, $6.3 billion has been paid out on insurance policies.<\/p>\n
Overall, premiums for soybeans will fall by 6 percent and for rice by 8 percent for 2013 crops while the premium for spring-planted wheat will rise by 4 percent.<\/p>\n
Corn, cotton and grain sorghum premiums will decline in the core growing states for those crops but will rise in outlying states. The same pattern applies to soybeans,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Corn, cotton, sorghum, spring wheat rates revised too * USDA will phase in changes to cushion drought impact * Agency expects little impact on 2013 planting decisions WASHINGTON, Nov 28 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-headlines"],"yoast_head":"\n