Craig Corbett farms malt and seed barley, along with some wheat on roughly 2,800 acres in Soda Springs, Idaho. Corbett has been farming for more than 30 years and loves what he does for a living. \u201cIt\u2019s challenging, it seems like something new pops up every day, and it\u2019s great being in a production-oriented business like farming,\u201d Corbett said.<\/p>\n
Corbett explained that when crop insurance first came out, it didn\u2019t work well and many farmers opted not to purchase it.\u00a0 He said that many commodity organizations and the crop insurance industry have worked over the years with USDA to produce crop insurance products that are effective for producers in different parts of the country, growing vastly different crops.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to have a program that works for one area \u2013 like Idaho\u2014while also working for different crops in different areas of the country as well,\u201d Corbett said.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cAnd the fact that modern crop insurance can do that is a big, big plus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Corbett added that while he\u2019s never had a \u201ccrop catastrophe,\u201d he has used his policies on a number of occasions, like after going through a really bad hail storm.\u00a0 \u201cCrop insurance is never going to make you money, but it can keep you from losing your shirt,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He noted that despite the fact he spends more than $20,000 annually purchasing crop insurance, on most years he doesn\u2019t file a claim. \u201cAnd every one of those years it was money well spent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Corbett said that while he can protect himself against price fluctuations with marketing tools, \u201cthe one thing that we can\u2019t have is nothing to sell.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I don\u2019t have anything to market, then I\u2019m done,\u201d he said. \u00a0\u00a0\u201cSo if you\u2019re a producer, crop insurance is where you get the most protection for your buck.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 2014 Farm Bill made crop insurance the centerpiece of farmers\u2019 risk management tools, and incorporated changes that strengthened crop insurance.\u00a0 \u201cIf the Farm Bill was going to be changed, it needed to change in the direction of helping farmers better manage risk, and the new Farm Bill certainly moved in that direction,\u201d Corbett added.<\/p>\n
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Craig Corbett farms malt and seed barley, along with some wheat on roughly 2,800 acres in Soda Springs, Idaho. Corbett has been farming for more than 30 years and loves […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":6145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,1,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-farmers","category-news","category-whats-cropping-up"],"yoast_head":"\n