PHOENIX\u20142017 was an historic year for crop insurance, with 311 million acres enrolled in the system.\u00a0 For perspective, that\u2019s an area roughly the size of California, Texas and New York combined.<\/p>\n
The good news was delivered by Mike Day, chairman of National Crop Insurance Services (NCIS), during the industry\u2019s annual meeting, which began yesterday.<\/p>\n
He also told the group that insurers backed more than $106 billion worth of crops in 2017, up $6 billion since 2016.\u00a0 And farmers paid $3.7 billion out of their own pockets for insurance protection \u2013 a more than $250 million increase from the year before.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, crop insurance protects around 90 percent of the insurable land and more than 130 different kinds of crops,\u201d said Day, who heads Rural Community Insurance Services (RCIS) for Zurich North America. \u00a0\u201cCongress made crop insurance the cornerstone of farm policy, and it is important not just for farmers and rural communities, but for taxpayers and consumers alike.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite its popularity, some farm policy opponents are angling to cut crop insurance funding in the upcoming Farm Bill debate.<\/p>\n
Day said that would be a mistake, pointing out Congress\u2019 efforts to make crop insurance affordable and available for farmers and economically viable enough to encourage efficient private-sector delivery.<\/p>\n
\u201cInterrupt any of those three pillars, as some farm policy critics are advocating, and you undo all the progress that has been made over the past three decades,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n
NCIS President Tom Zacharias echoed Day\u2019s comments and encouraged agriculture to work hand-in-hand during the Farm Bill to defend farmers\u2019 primary risk management tool.\u00a0 He also urged his colleagues to maintain their vigilance in providing superior customer service and coordinating with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.<\/p>\n
\u201cFarmers must continue to realize the economic value of today\u2019s crop insurance system and have confidence that both government and the private sector are committed to its continued success,\u201d Zacharias concluded.<\/p>\n
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PHOENIX\u20142017 was an historic year for crop insurance, with 311 million acres enrolled in the system.\u00a0 For perspective, that\u2019s an area roughly the size of California, Texas and New York […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":9392,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases"],"yoast_head":"\n