10-30 FB Crop Insurance

Crop Insurance Will Save Farms This Year. Due to one of the worst droughts in US history,  economists expect the price tag for the crop insurance program to skyrocket. In fact, there’s a spotlight on the nation’s crop insurance program as experts speculate it may break records this year. American Farm Bureau Federation Economist John Anderson explains more about the program and why it’s important.  “It is insurance so it should not be surprising in a year like this year which is arguably the worst production year in one or 2 generations that insurance should pay out a lot so there is no surprise that we are talking about fairly big numbers.” Anderson says it is actually a good thing that so many farmers and ranchers participate in the crop insurance program because it has become the biggest part of the safety net for US agriculture. “What would it if we had no insurance or very low levels of insurance? There would be a tremendous outcry for some sort of intervention this year to deal with the effects of this drought. We would be talking about one of the biggest if not the biggest ad hoc disaster assistance program than we had ever had and it is telling that there has been no call for that.” All of that said, Anderson says it’s too early to know how many farmers will rely on their crop insurance this year