Crop Insurance Does Not Discriminate
January 16th, 2007 by David Graves
Since crop insurance is a federal program, the industry must not and does not discriminate against any farmer in marketing policies for any reason, especially including farm size, location or financial status. Any farmer interested in purchasing a policy offered by the federal crop insurance program can not be turned away. Thus, non-discrimination means a small or limited-resource or minority farmer is equally entitled to purchase a policy and benefit from the risk management protection provided by the crop insurance program as any other farmer. The same is true for farmers who are operating in high or higher-risk areas of the country.
Non-discrimination is a vital part of the political viability of the federal crop insurance program. Congress could not be expected to continue supporting a federal crop insurance program that encourages the insurance industry to compete for the business of only the largest and most profitable farmers while denying the program’s risk management benefits and services to other farmers. Non-discriminatory access to federal crop insurance is an important and appropriate public policy objective and it should continue to be a central focus of the program.
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