What's Cropping Up
National Crop Insurance Services — January 2012
With claims still streaming in — only an estimated 81 percent of expected claims have been finalized — crop insurance companies have already paid out a record $9.1 billion in indemnity payments to America’s farmers in 2011.
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Armstrong: Unique situations on the farm
The Garden City Telegram — December 24, 2011
Looking out the window at snowflakes as they blanket my fields, it’s hard to believe that no two snow- flakes are alike. In fact, each snowflake contains so many water molecules, arranged in so many ran- dom patterns, that the mathematical possibility of any two identical flakes appearing in the lifetime of the universe is indistin- guishable from zero.

What's Cropping Up
National Crop Insurance Services — December 2011
Crop insurance companies have paid out more than $7.1 billion and climbing in claims so far this year, which makes 2011 second only to 2008’s $8.6 billion in the total value of indemnities paid out to farmers. The combination of several large-scale floods in the Central U.S., record droughts in the southern plains, a strong tropical storm in the Northeast and a hard freeze in Florida set the stage for the widespread agricultural losses.
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What's Cropping Up
National Crop Insurance Services — November 2011
Most would agree that the private sector excels at some tasks while the government is better-suited for others. This melding of the private and public sectors has yielded a crop insurance policy with affordable premiums, personalized risk management solutions and a private delivery system that puts needed monies into the hands of farmers when timing is critical.
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Barnaby: Every Proposal Has Quirks in Covering Crop Losses
The Progressive Farmer — November 2, 2011
There is no shortage of farm-bill proposals for agricultural economists to study, but there is a problem trying to make sense of how each program would play out at the farm level.

Quentin Bowen: Speed of crop insurance is crucial
JournalStar.com — October 31, 2011
Sitting on a combine for 12 hours a day harvesting corn and soybeans gives a person a certain degree of clarity, combined with long blocks of time to think and analyze. Looking at the corn I'm harvesting, I marvel at the fact that somehow, my family farm managed to dodge the many bullets Mother Nature shot at farmers this year.

What's Cropping Up
National Crop Insurance Services — October 2011
October 31, 2011 will mark the first time in history that seven billion humans will populate the planet, according to a recent United Nations report. The Executive Director of the UN’s Population Fund called the prediction “both a challenge and an opportunity,” noting that “globally, people are living longer, healthier lives and choosing to have smaller families.”
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Mike Woltemath: Midlands Voices: Ag singled out for budget cuts
Omaha World Herald — September 26, 2011
With the floodwaters rising and the nation's attention focused on the looming Midwest destruction, government officials asked me to make an enormous sacrifice.

What's Cropping Up
National Crop Insurance Services — September 2011
In the President's budget reduction proposal released yesterday, crop insurance and the farmers who both support it and depend on it are once again being asked to shoulder a disproportionate portion of the budget cuts.
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Vaughan: Crop insurance key to food security as disasters hit
Lubbuck Avalanche-Journal — September 11, 2011
Texas is an exceptional state, and most Texans will be happy to explain why that’s so. Unfortunately, for this year, that term also applies to the bone-dry conditions that we’ve seen unfold over the last 12 months.

Op-Ed: Living on a Prayer
Agri-Pulse — September 2011
Agriculture is collectively holding its breath as the “super committee” meets to determine where the $1.2 trillion worth of federal budget funds will be cut. Having already shouldered more than $12 billion in cuts for deficit reduction in the past several years, farmers and ranchers feel the pain that other sectors have yet to experience.

Everyone Wins With a Strong Crop Insurance Policy
Farm Policy Facts — September 4, 2011
It's no great surprise when a well-funded libertarian think tank full of Washington policy wonks push for the belief that the federal government should not be involved in crop insurance and other key farm policies. But those of us in farming know better.