Climate Change Could Increase Crop Insurance Losses

Dec 02, 2014

Climate change could increase losses in flood and crop insurance programs significantly in coming decades, according to a USA Today article available here. Agri-Pulse also published an article available here and Insurance News here.

The Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) report found that exposure to losses for property insured under the two programs grew from 8 percent to $1.4 trillion over the past six years due to population growth and increased property values in hazard-prone areas.

The GAO study says climate change “may substantially increase losses by 2040 and increases losses from about 50 to 100 percent by 2100,” according to Agri-Pulse.

“(FEMA and RMA) face challenges that may limit their ability to minimize long-term federal exposure to climate change,” the report summary said. “For example, because of the short-term nature of insurance (i.e., contracts typically estimate and communicate risk of property losses for the 1-year term of a policy), FEMA and RMA face a challenge in encouraging policyholders to reduce their long-term exposure to climate change risks.”

FEMA is currently $24 billion in debt because of extreme weather events, and in 2006 the GAO labeled the National Flood Insurance Program as "high risk" for long-term insolvency, according to Insurance News.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.