Tuesday was a busy day for proponents of crop insurance. Senator Pat Roberts introduced a bill to strengthen the federal crop insurance program. His bill improves the critical safety-net for farmers but also saves taxpayers $5.2 billion over 10 years. Roberts says he has “introduced this bill to ensure crop insurance is protected and improved while at the same time saving billions of taxpayer dollars and ensuring a safe and affordable food supply.”
Also Tuesday National Crop Insurance Services introduced a website feature which lays out the facts about crop insurance and addresses issues raised by crop insurance critics.
“Crop insurance is the single most important risk management tool available to farmers today, and the public needs to understand why it is so valuable, how it benefits taxpayers, and how it helps maintain a stable agriculture for the benefit of consumers.”
Tom Zacharias (right) is President of NCIS and says that it is extremely important that policy makers have this information at their fingertips as they develop the next Farm Bill. Crop Insurance 
Just the Facts is at the NCIS website where it will be a continuously updated, convenient and accurate resource for industry, farmers and consumers. The series covers important topics such as how crop insurance benefits the public, economics of the industry, the globalization of risk management, means testing, benefits to producers and many other important issues.
“This resource will provide a much needed explanation of the value and need for crop insurance as well as the reasons why Congress incentivized farmers to purchase this risk management tool as a way to avoid costly ad hoc farm disaster bills.”
Farmers spent more than 4.1-billion dollars out of their own pockets last year purchasing crop insurance but there is a lot of misinformation and misrepresentation about the program. Crop Insurance Just the Facts lays out the details of this important public policy.
“There is a reason why crop insurance has evolved into the primary risk management tool for most farmers, protecting 86 percent of planted crop land in 2012. This guide will help make clear why, during the upcoming Farm Bill, Congress should do no harm to crop insurance.”
In Roberts’ bill the legislation is fully paid for by the elimination of direct payments saving taxpayers $5 billion over ten years according to a preliminary score by the Congressional Budget Office. The full text of the bill is here.
Source: NAFB News Service