Crop Insurance Today February 2015 - (Page 1)

TODAY PRESIDENT'SMESSAGE A Work in Progress It was just last year at the time of our Crop Insurance Industry's Annual Convention that the 2014 Farm Bill had been signed. And for many of us, it has been yet another rendition of "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" ever since. By the time of this publication, we will still be in the midst of preparing for the spring sales season and attempting to ensure that we, as an industry, have put in place all that is necessary to successfully implement the majority of the provisions of the Bill. Much work has been done, much work remains. Laurie Langstraat, Editor TODAY® IS PROVIDED AS A SERVICE OF NATIONAL CROP INSURANCE SERVICES® TO EDUCATE READERS ABOUT THE RISK MANAGEMENT TOOLS PRODUCERS USE TO PROTECT THEMSELVES FROM THE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH PRODUCTION AGRICULTURE. TODAY is published quarterly-February, May, August, and November by National Crop Insurance Services 8900 Indian Creek Parkway, Suite 600 Overland Park, Kansas 66210 www.ag-risk.org If you move, or if your address is incorrect, please send old address label clipped from recent issue along with your new or corrected address to Donna Bryan, at the above address. NCIS® EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Tim Weber, Chairman Mike Day, Vice Chairman Jim Korin, Second Vice Chairman NCIS® MANAGEMENT Thomas P. Zacharias, President Charles Lee, General Counsel James M. Crist, CFO/COO Sherri Scharff, Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff Troy Brady, Senior Vice President Frank Schnapp, Senior Vice President Mike Sieben, Senior Vice President Creative Layout and Design by Graphic Arts of Topeka, Inc., Kansas Printed on recycled paper. The Work to Date The Farm Bill strengthened crop insurance's role as the primary component of the farm safety net. Tom Zacharias, NCIS President This was accomplished by adding to the current suite of crop insurance offerings and providing for coverage enhancements to the existing program. Through the use of crop insurance, farmers will be better able to protect against losses due to natural disasters and uncertain markets. One of the new insurance products, Stacked Income Protection Plan, or STAX, is for upland cotton acreage only. STAX is an area revenue plan that a cotton producer may use alone or in combination with an underlying policy. It is available in all counties where Federal crop insurance coverage is available for upland cotton. The second new policy, the Supplemental Coverage Option, or SCO, provides crop producers with the option to purchase area coverage in combination with an underlying individual policy that allows indemnities to be equal to a part of the deductible on the underlying policy. SCO is available for spring barley, corn, soybeans, spring wheat, sorghum, cotton and rice in specific counties depending on the availability of the data. Additional crops and counties are being reviewed for inclusion in SCO beginning with the 2016 crop year. In addition to area-based plans, the new Farm Bill may also result in a number of new crop insurance products coming to market. New product priorities are placed on policies that increase participation by producers of under-served commodities. The Whole Farm Revenue Protection policy was in development prior to enactment of the Farm Bill and is available for sale now. Provisions for beginning farmers and ranchers are also contained in the Bill and include a premium discount. The importance of the 2014 Farm Bill for U.S. agriculture cannot be overstated. With this legislation, crop insurance became the centerpiece of the farm safety net. Why? Because crop insurance has been, and continues to be, the common-sense solution for dealing with natural disasters and market uncertainties in agriculture. We enumerated the "Strengths of Crop Insurance" several years ago in this publication (February 2011). I will not review them all again here, but will highlight just a few of the more salient attributes of crop insurance that have served agriculture and the taxpayer well. First, with the current crop insurance system, there is cost-sharing on three levels. Farmers Printed with Environmentally friendly vegetable oil based inks. Continued on page 33 CROPINSURANCE TODAY® 1 http://www.ag-risk.org http://www.ag-risk.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crop Insurance Today February 2015

A Work in Progress
Whole-Farm Revenue Protection
2014 A Year of Involvement
NCIS Agricultural Research & Technology Program
Crop Insurance In Action: Art Wiebelhaus, Fordyce, Nebraska
In Memory Mike Felt
In Memory Irl Oaks, Jr.
Insurable Crops Location & Plans
FFA Proficiency Winner

Crop Insurance Today February 2015