Crop Insurance Keeps Family Farms Alive
Jim Carroll, a fourth-generation farmer in Brinkley, Arkansas, is no stranger to the “bad times” that come with farming. Some years, it feels like he’s just trying to survive.
That’s why Jim invests in crop insurance. “We use crop insurance for the fact that if something bad happens, we don’t want to lose our livelihood, not being smart enough to take a little crop insurance out,” he explained in a new video.
Crop insurance helps Jim manage his risks and protect the farm in the hopes that one day, his grandson will take over as the fifth generation. “My hope is he’ll like this because there’s something unique about being able to put a seed in the ground and watch it come up and develop.”
National Crop Insurance Services is dedicated to sharing the stories of the people behind crop insurance policies. Each one is important, whether it’s the farmers who rely on crop insurance to keep growing after disaster or the agents and adjusters who are dedicated to preserving a strong agricultural economy.
Our most recent trip to the field took us to the rich farmland of Arkansas and Mississippi. Tim Ralston in Atkins, Arkansas, farms rice, soybeans, and corn while raising cattle. The jasmine rice he grows is so fragrant, he said “you can actually smell it when you pull into the field.”
Tim recalled a 500-year flood that threatened his farm and damaged his rice. His crop insurance policy quickly delivered aid to help cover his losses.
“Crop insurance kind of provides a safety net to where you know what the minimum return is going to be. And if you can live with that minimum return and then, you know, you can survive and go forward,” Tim said.
“With [crop insurance], you know it was devastating as it was, but without it, it would have been catastrophic.”
Watch these stories and more at CropInsuranceInAmerica.org.