30 Years In and Still Reforming – New Keep America Growing Podcast Episode

Did you know that 2024 marks the 30-year anniversary of the 1994 Crop Insurance Reform Act? This means crop insurance has been expanding and adapting to the risk management needs of U.S. agriculture for three decades now. Given this important 30-year anniversary, National Crop Insurance Services (NCIS) and its president, Tom Zacharias, took some time […]

Convo 71

USDA’s Risk Management Agency recently announced the improper payment rate — a closely-watched standardized measure of waste and abuse required of all major federal spending programs – fell sharply last year for crop insurance. The rate dropped to a new level of 2.20 percent, representing a 62 percent drop from the prior year’s 5.58 percent. […]

Convo 70

Nearly 90 percent of Americans have a favorable view of farmers, and 92 percent said it was important to provide farmers with federal funding, according to a new national poll released this week. The poll, commissioned by the National Crop Insurance Services, surveyed 1,000 registered voters in early April. Jon McHenry is the Vice President […]

Convo 70

I use crop insurance as a safety net to protect my assets in case of a fallout disaster. Younger producers use it to go to the bank to borrow for operating loans and tell them, ‘I’m protected.’

Convo 69

Insurance not only allows farmers to face natural disasters and damaging production years without losing everything, but it provides assurance that we can make payments to our banks. The same way any person in this country cannot get a house loan or a car loan without proof of insurance, agricultural banks want the guarantee that […]

Convo 68

Farmers buy crop insurance for the same reason drivers purchase auto insurance: it offers some degree of stability in times of disaster. Crop insurance has become, in essence, the nation’s insurance policy for the food supply. When Mother Nature strikes and farmers lose their crops, those with crop insurance policies in hand can bounce back […]

Convo 67

I believe crop insurance is stronger today for the obstacles it has faced in recent years and most importantly, it is ready to meet tomorrow’s challenges.

Convo 66

Crop insurance, which underpins the nation’s agricultural bounty, works like other kinds of insurance, and it is particularly important in a state like California that has such a diverse and thriving agricultural sector. In fact, for most fruit and vegetable growers it is the only safety net available.

Convo 65

Crop insurance and farm policy enables everyone – from the farmer to the banker to the taxpayer – to plan for those disasters and overcome them when they happen. If lawmakers continue to try and chip away at this safety net, farmers will not have the ability to survive. This is especially true for young, […]

Convo 64

We are confident that the chair and the ranking member on the Senate Ag Committee — Senators Roberts and Stabenow — will hold the line and be true to their word that those appropriated funds will not come out of the ag committee, or the Farm Bill or even out of jurisdiction in the ag […]