News Archive

2009

March

Another farm policy "dust up."
Stu Ellis, Herald & Review Blog — March 29, 2009
...Additionally, the administration budget wants to reduce the cost of the crop insurance program, but details are not spelled out. Such a savings could come in reductions in the premium subsidies, compensation to insurance companies for operating the program on behalf of the USDA, or commissions paid to agents who sell crop insurance. In any case, the proposal could severely restrict a farmer's access to crop insurance or make it prohibitively expensive to the point that farmers would no longer have interest in risk management. ...

Reaping farmers' profits
Tim Leeds, Havre Daily News — March 10, 2009
The proposed federal budget for fiscal year 2010 is raising some eyebrows in the agriculture industry, including a provision that cuts off direct payments if a farmer grosses more than $500,000. Ryan McCormick of Kremlin said that cutoff, especially in this period of up-and-down grain prices and production costs, could affect many local farmers even if they are not making a profit. ...

Best Buys for Crop Insurance
Marcia Zarley Taylor, DTN/Progressive Farmer — March 6, 2009
If you're suffering sticker shock from crop insurance premiums this year, take heart. For the most popular revenue-based products - Revenue Assurance and Crop Revenue Coverage - you're buying substantially less coverage per acre than 2008, without huge price discounts...

2008 crop insurance indemnity payments near $6.5 billion
Southwest Farm Press — March 2, 2009
Because of droughts and flooding in parts of the country along with substantial price declines for corn and soybeans, indemnity payments on crop losses during the 2008 growing season reached nearly $6.5 billion in mid February with more claims yet to be processed. ...