Crop Insurance For All Farmers
January 11th, 2007 by David Graves
A fundamental principle of the Federal Crop Insurance Program is that it should be meaningfully and equally available to all farmers. Throughout the life of the program, universal availability has been understood to be a core building block. In fact, annually, Congress appropriates funds specifically for the purpose of helping the crop insurance program reach a greater number of farmers, especially farmers in states considered to be underserved. New policy options are constantly being developed and tested in order to provide risk protection options to a larger number and wider array of farmers. Additionally, while private sector companies and reinsurers are encouraged to assume some coverage risk, the federal government is willing to take most of the risk in high loss areas to help assure those farmers have fair access to the crop insurance program. This risk sharing arrangement helps assure that crop insurance will be available to all parts of the country, whether low-risk or high-risk. In the final analysis, universal availability is an absolutely essential element to the program’s political viability. By a large majority, the associated private sector companies agree with and actively campaign for the universal availability characteristic.
Your comments are welcome.
Dr. G S Rao Says
It is great idea! We appriciate and optimistic to see that this proposal to reach each and every farmer across all the corners of the world.
Jan 13th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
Jerry Says
This sounds like an interesting concept, but I am wondering how crop insurance will be available across such a broad-spectrum industry. Will one company be selling insurance to all types of farmers in all parts of the country, or will it need to be more specialized than that?
Jerry
http://www.leads4insurance.com
Mar 28th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
David Graves Says
Great question, Jerry. Actually, the Federal Crop Insurnce Program has been around since 1938. However, only since 1980 has the government partnered with the private sector insurance industry to design and promote crop and livestock coverage options to farmers, ranchers and growers across the nation. Today, 16 companies are approved to participate with the Department of Agriculture in this program. Companies are free to choose where among the 50 states to conduct business. Two of the currently approved companies operate in all 50 states. There is no limit on the number of companies that can apply to participate, however, each applicant must be reviewed and approved by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC)[http://www.rma.usda.gov/fcic], an entity managed by the Risk Management Agency (RMA) [http://www.rma.usda.gov] of the Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Mar 29th, 2007 at 6:55 am