It was 2010 and I was expecting to harvest my best crop. I had done everything right and the weather had been kind. Or so I thought. Then on a late October night, it hailed for six hours and what was anticipated to be my best crop year turned into nothing. But the worst of it was yet to come. It stopped raining. It stopped for 336 days straight. It kicked off what would be the worst drought since the 1950s. The conditions would improve slightly, but it\u2019s not an exaggeration to say that for the last five years, my part of the world \u2013 West Texas \u2013 has essentially been on fire.<\/p>\n
Mother Nature is the toughest, most unpredictable boss. Farmers are resilient and they adapt, but a safety net is crucial to their survival. And, it\u2019s not a safety net if it\u2019s not affordable.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what today\u2019s crop insurance offers farmers. A safety net that is both affordable and widely available. \u00a0It\u2019s what\u2019s helped me make it to the next year.<\/p>\n
That hasn\u2019t always been the case. When crop insurance got its start in the 1930s, it was a poorly run government program. It hobbled along through the 60s and 70s, but the premiums were too high so the participation was low with limited available coverage. Farmers mainly relied on costly ad hoc<\/em> disaster assistance when natural disasters wiped out their crops. It was so ineffective that the Secretary of Agriculture, Bob Bergland, told Congress in 1977 that disaster programs \u201care for the most part\u2026a disaster.\u201d This gave birth to the Federal Crop Insurance Act of 1980 that created a successful public-private partnership that remains today.\u00a0 Since then there have been other pieces of legislation along the way that have made additional improvements to the delivery and mechanics of crop insurance with the most recent being the 2014 Farm Bill.<\/p>\n Sadly, there are some who don\u2019t know or understand the history and improvements that have taken place to make crop insurance what it is today. Meanwhile, there are others who are bent on attacking farm policy regardless.<\/p>\n I was reminded of this on a recent visit to Washington, D.C. where I met with lawmakers and staff on behalf of producers across the country. Each time I visit I am struck by how important outreach is to ensure agriculture remains successful in this country and that crop insurance remains a viable, affordable, and widely available safety net for farmers and ranchers.<\/p>\n I tend to walk away both encouraged and discouraged by my visits. I am encouraged because there are some who understand the challenges that we face; and discouraged because there is always more to be done. The battle never ends and we need more voices in support of American agriculture.<\/p>\n Our form of government requires participation.\u00a0 When we don\u2019t show up and tell our story, without a doubt, someone who doesn\u2019t understand or care about production agriculture and the importance of crop insurance will fill the void.<\/p>\n We all sit on the tractor or the combine and talk to ourselves about how to make things better, but sometimes you have to get off the tractor and find your voice. We can\u2019t assume policymakers understand the anxiety we feel when we\u2019re days away from harvesting a good crop and it\u2019s destroyed in matter of minutes by something beyond our control. We can\u2019t assume policymakers know the one thing that enables us to start again is crop insurance. It\u2019s up to us to tell them.<\/p>\n Wade Cowan is the president of the American Soybean Association. He farms soybeans, guar, cotton, wheat, and grain sorghum in West Texas.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It was 2010 and I was expecting to harvest my best crop. I had done everything right and the weather had been kind. Or so I thought. Then on a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,1,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines-and-media","category-news","category-news-headlines"],"yoast_head":"\n