National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) Public Policy Action Team Vice Chairman Mike Clemens testified Wednesday before the House Agriculture Subcommittee on General Commodities and Risk Management, emphasizing the importance of the federal crop insurance program to the viability of corn growers’ farm operations.
“Federal crop insurance remains our single most important risk management tool,” Clemens said. “Although the farm bill’s safety net programs are important to our grower members, the dramatic increase in market volatility over the past year underscores the value of crop insurance as a key component of sound risk management.”
A farmer from Wimbledon, N.D., Clemens highlighted major improvements to federal crop insurance made possible by the significant increase in resources approved by Congress beginning in 2000, including more affordable premiums, new revenue based products and the elimination of cost share disparities for enterprise unit and whole farm coverage. NCGA is concerned with proposed funding cuts that put at risk the expansion in producer participation and higher levels of coverage. Clemens also mentioned in his testimony that NCGA believes further budget cuts will adversely impact the Risk Management Agency’s ability to address the program’s deficiencies.
Clemens’s testimony also called attention to ongoing concerns with the crop insurance program. Because indemnities for corn have been well below the policy premiums being paid, growers are asking why premiums are not being reduced to better reflect their actual crop losses. Clemens also raised producers’ concerns about quality loss adjustment procedures for aflatoxin, eligibility standards for prevented planting claims and the coverage reduction caused by combining converted skip row and solid plant yield history into one data base.