In many parts of Oklahoma, it seems like wheat farmers just can\u2019t catch a break.<\/p>\n
A late spring freeze, combined with excessively dry or extreme drought conditions throughout the winter and into spring have left many of the state\u2019s wheat fields badly stressed or a complete bust.\u00a0 I\u2019d say this is the worst I\u2019ve ever seen, and I started farming in the mid 1950s.<\/p>\n
With the wheat harvest set to begin in about a month, farmers are expected to harvest about 40 percent less wheat this year than they did in 2013.\u00a0\u00a0 The low soil moisture has left many farmers wondering what they are about to go through.<\/p>\n
For the state\u2019s farmers who purchased crop insurance \u2013 and nowadays that\u2019s nearly all of them \u2013 that will be their only saving grace.\u00a0\u00a0 I don\u2019t know of a farmer anywhere in Oklahoma who doesn\u2019t buy crop insurance.\u00a0 It\u2019s just like buying diesel fuel today\u2026you don\u2019t farm without it.<\/p>\n
With the passage of the new Farm Bill, largely gone are the days of the Federal government stepping after a calamity.\u00a0 Today, when a farm crisis hits, farmers turn to their crop insurance policy, not the Federal government, for help.\u00a0 The public-private partnership that is today\u2019s crop insurance ensures that farmers get the financial help they need in weeks, not years.<\/p>\n
As a crop insurance agent, I can tell you firsthand that crop insurance is no small expense for most of the state\u2019s farmers, who spend north of $20,000 a year purchasing policies that they pray they will not need.<\/p>\n
Farmers buy crop insurance today just like they buy homeowners insurance.\u00a0 And when a good year turns into a bust, the only thing standing between some farmers and bankruptcy is their crop insurance policies.<\/p>\n
Last year, Oklahoma farmers spent more than $93 million to purchase the peace of mind of crop insurance.\u00a0 Crop insurance allows individual farmers to purchase the coverage they need, tailored to their farms, financial standing and tolerance to risk.<\/p>\n
For farmers who rely on loans to operate \u2013 and that\u2019s a lot of farmers \u2013 crop insurance has become a bank\u2019s best friend.\u00a0 In fact, the best collateral you can take to a bank when you are seeking a loan is your crop insurance policy.<\/p>\n
Crop insurance is not only smart farm policy, but smart consumer policy as well.\u00a0 American consumers have come to see our affordable, abundant food supply as a birthright.\u00a0 In fact, most of us alive today have never seen wide-scale hunger in this country.\u00a0 But much of what we take for granted could quickly disappear if we allow our farmers to fail and were forced to import our food, fiber and fuel.<\/p>\n
While this might be the worst drought I\u2019ve ever seen, I have to say that my faith in the resilience and work ethic of Oklahoma\u2019s farmers is undying, and I know that with their crop insurance policies as a backstop, our farmers will bounce back from this.<\/p>\n
Max Claybaker is a farmer and a crop insurance insurance agent from Blackwell, Oklahoma.\u00a0 This op-ed appeared in The Oklahoman<\/i> on June 1, 2014.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In many parts of Oklahoma, it seems like wheat farmers just can\u2019t catch a break. A late spring freeze, combined with excessively dry or extreme drought conditions throughout the winter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":5532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-farmers","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n