Crop insurance is key to steady food production system

/in , /by

My husband and I have been farming in Southeastern Colorado for more than 40 years and during that time it’s safe to say there have been a lot of changes not only in farming practices, but also in farm policy.

The biggest farm policy change through the years has been the affordability and availability of crop insurance. When we first started farming crop insurance was not an option because we couldn’t afford it. It wasn’t until Congress made reforms to the program a couple decades ago that we were able to participate. Additional reforms through the years have made crop insurance more widely available to a variety of crops regardless of farm size or method of production.

It is still an expensive part of the operation, but it is a necessary part because it provides us with stability – something we can count on. This is helpful not only when we need to show our lender at the bank what our estimated income will be, but also for our own peace of mind.

You have to realize that out here, we can have a beautiful crop and phenomenal yields one year and then we can get wiped out the next year by a hailstorm or drought. For the last three years, the ongoing drought and the late spring freezes have dogged our crops. With crop insurance, we have been able to level out the highs and lows so we can make it to another year.

The enactment of the 2014 Farm Bill made crop insurance the centerpiece of the farm safety net and for good reason. It is an effective risk management tool for not only farmers, but also taxpayers. Gone are the days of large, unbudgeted disaster bills aimed at helping farmers when natural disasters strike. Now because of crop insurance everyone — policymakers, farmers, and bankers — can plan and budget for those disasters.

Recently, there has been talk in Washington about trying to make changes to crop insurance again — just one year after the Farm Bill was enacted. Specifically, there have been discussions about cutting the premium support farmers receive for purchasing crop insurance. This does a disservice to everyone. If such proposals succeed, it would only serve to increase the costs to farmers and undermine their ability to manage risk. As my husband and I can attest premium support has helped us be able to afford crop insurance, which has helped our overall farming operation.

Each new farm bill ushers in new changes to farm policy and we’ve experienced those changes firsthand, but the one part that should remain constant going forward is crop insurance. It is the key to a steady, safe food production system in the U.S. The beneficiaries of crop insurance are not just farmers, but consumers.

Cathy Scherler is the president of the Colorado chapter of Women in Farming Enterprises (WIFE). She and her husband grow wheat, grain sorghum, sunflowers, and corn.

It’s up to us to explain the importance of crop insurance

/in , /by

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’s not an exaggeration to say that for the last five years, my part of the world—West Texas—has essentially been on fire.

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’s not a safety net if it’s not affordable.

That’s what today’s crop insurance offers farmers. A safety net that is both affordable and widely available. It’s what’s helped me make it to the next year.

That hasn’t 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 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 “are for the most part…a disaster.” This gave birth to the Federal Crop Insurance Act of 1980 that created a successful public-private partnership that remains today. 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.

Sadly, there are some who don’t know or understand the history and improvements that have taken place through the years. Meanwhile, there are others who are bent on attacking farm policy regardless.

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.

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.

Our form of government requires participation. When we don’t show up and tell our story then, without a doubt, someone who doesn’t understand or care about production agriculture and the importance of crop insurance will fill the void.

We’ve each sat in the tractor cab or with our neighbors in the coffee shop and talked to ourselves about how to make things better, but that’s not the way to drive real change in Washington or anywhere else. Sometimes you have to get off the tractor and reach out beyond those circles in your own community.

We can’t assume policymakers understand the anxiety we feel when we’re days away from harvesting a good crop and it’s destroyed in a matter of minutes by something beyond our control. We can’t assume policymakers know the one thing that enables us to start again is crop insurance. It’s up to us to tell them.

Wade Cowan is the president of the American Soybean Association. He farms soybeans, guar, cotton, wheat and grain sorghum in West Texas.