Recent News

2010

Wild June weather keeps farmers guessing
AgWeek — July 13, 2010
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — Favorable spring planting season wedged tightly between wet spells set the stage for another record corn crop. The June 30 USDA planted crop acreage report estimates U.S. corn acreage at 89.2 million acres, the highest level since 1945....

First rain in weeks brings renewed hope for farmers
Alison Morrow, WBIR-TV — July 12, 2010
The return of rain, even for a short time, may have long-reaching consequences for farmers in East Tennessee....

Grain Producers Need To Consider Crop Insurance Options For Late Planting & Replanting
William Edwards, CattleNetwork.comk — July 12, 2010
The frequent rains that have soaked Iowa this year have left many corn and soybean fields with areas where little or no production will be realized. Many producers are wondering what options they have under their multiple peril crop insurance policies....

Harkin Asks About Legality of Agent Payment Caps
Chris Clayton, DTN/The Progressive Farmer’s Ag Policy Blog — July 11, 2010
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, became the latest senator to lend his voice to the concerns of crop-insurance agents facing pay caps because of the Standard Reinsurance Agreement between USDA and insurance companies....

Green Fields: Vilsack says crop insurance firms will accept cuts
Philip Brasher & Dan Piller, Des Moines Register Green Fields Blog — July 11, 2010
Most, if not all, crop insurance companies will sign an agreement that will reduce the industry's profits, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said last week....

Trade; Standard Reinsurance Agreement (SRA); Farm Bill (Nutrition Issues); Biofuels; Climate Issues; and Food Prices
Keith Good, FarmPolicy.com — July 8, 2010
The July 7 edition of the “Agriculture Today” radio program, which is produced by the Red River Farm Network, contained an overview summary of the Farm Bill Forum recently hosted in Rural North Dakota by House Ag Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn., and Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D....

Senators Concerned about Crop Insurance Cuts
Bruce Blythe, Pork Magazine — July 8, 2010
Senate agriculture leaders have “very significant concerns” over the government’s proposed $6 billion in cuts to the federal crop insurance program. In all, 16 Senators sent a letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to outline those concerns....

Standard Reinsurance Agreement (SRA); Farm Bill; Food Safety; Trade; Animal Ag; Biofuels; EPA; and Climate Issues
Keith Good, FarmPolicy.com — July 8, 2010
Recall that Jerry Hagstrom recently reported that, “USDA Risk Management Agency Administrator Bill Murphy said June 30 that his agency has sent crop insurance companies a revised final offer of a new standard reinsurance agreement and gives the companies until July 12 to sign it. The original deadline was June 30....

Vilsack says insurance firms will accept cuts
Philip Brasher, Des Moines Register Green Fields Blog, — July 7, 2010
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says he expects most if not all crop insurance companies to sign an agreement that will reduce the industry’s profits....

Senate leaders still unhappy with crop insurance changes
Jacqui Fatka, Feedstuffs, — July 7, 2010
Sixteen U.S. senators, including the Agriculture Committee’s top Democrat and Republican, sent the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) a letter on July 2 urging the administration to modify its proposed $6 billion in cuts to crop insurance....

Crop Insurers Signing on to Contract With $6 Billion in Cuts; Agents Object to Caps
Jesse A. Hamilton, Insurance News Net, — July 6, 2010
This week, U.S. crop insurers will have to sign the latest long-term contract with the federal government -- a deal that slashes billions from the long-standing public-private partnership....

Crop insurance industry – ‘hands tied’
Delta Farm Press, — July 6, 2010
The crop insurance industry and the program will withstand the $6 billion reduction in funding handed to them by the USDA’s final Standard Reinsurance Agreement (SRA) contract released June 29. Companies have until July 12 to sign the agreement....

Crop insurance companies offered a new reinsurance agreement
Jerry Hagstrom, AgWeek, — July 6, 2010
WASHINGTON — USDA Risk Management Agency Administrator Bill Murphy said June 30 that his agency has sent crop insurance companies a revised final offer of a new standard reinsurance agreement and gives the companies until July 12 to sign it. ...

Crop Insurers Will ‘Withstand’ Severe Subsidy Cuts
Arthur Postal, National Underwriter Property & Casualty Insurance News, — July 2, 2010
WASHINGTON—Crop insurers said late Thursday the industry and the crop insurance program will be able to “withstand” the severe cuts in subsidies imposed on the program by the Agriculture Department. ...

Some fields might go unplanted
Pam Tharp, Palladium-Item, — July 2, 2010
June's extended soggy weather might mean some farm fields go unplanted this year....