5-30 IAN Chain Reaction

  Yet another reason why we should foot  at least part of the bill for agricultural producers insurance.

Crop insurance for farmers and ranchers is partially covered by taxpayers which causes some people to gripe and moan. “Why should we be subsidizing somebody else’s business which is thriving so well?”  Well, the equation is a little bit more elaborate than that. If crops fail or farmers and ranchers businesses fail there is going to be quite the chain reaction as Dick Rush, Executive Director of the USDA Farm Service Agency points out: “What it does do is give some certainty to the producers, our farmers and ranchers, and their lenders. Those banks want to make sure that they get paid and they know it is a risky business when they make a loan, so that safety net is not only important to the farmers but it is important to their creditors who are lending them money to operate plus all the suppliers that may have offered credit to the producer, for some reason they kind of like to get paid too.  So some kind of a program like crop insurance would provide a little more certainty and make this industry work.”