Data from USDA’s Risk Management Agency shows 86-percent of all planted U.S. farmland – some 281-million acres – is protected by crop insurance this year. That’s a two-percent increase from 2011 and nearly a three-fold increase from the late 1990s. According to National Crop Insurance Services – that growth in coverage has been fueled by a number of factors. Among those factors are fewer federal risk management alternatives, the desire of farmers to have increased control of their risk management choices, federally-funded premium subsidies for those who purchase policies and the wide array of policy options.
Some 1.2-million crop insurance policies were sold in 2012 – covering 128 different crops. The majority – 84-percent – covered corn, soybeans and wheat.
Sosurce: NAFB News Service