Crop insurance

“ The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation shall begin to provide additional coverage based on an individual yield and loss basis, supplemented with coverage based on an area yield and loss basis, not later than for the 2014 crop year. ”

“ HONOLULU —Hawai`i farmers are now able to obtain an additional form of federal crop insurance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) . The RMA has just approved expansion of its Adjusted Gross Revenue-Lite (AGR-Lite) insurance plan for all counties in Hawai`i, which provides farmers with insurance protection against low revenue due to unavoidable natural disasters and market fluctuations that affect the farm’s income. Most agricultural producers are eligible for this program, including livestock, aquaculture and honey producers. ”

“ Ineligibility for crop insurance premium assistance– (1) In general– If a person is determined to have committed a violation under subsection (a) or (d) during a crop year, the person shall be ineligible to receive any payment of any portion of premium paid by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation for a plan or policy of insurance under the Federal Crop Insurance Act ( [http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/7/1501 7 U.S.C. 1501 et seq. ] ) . ”

“ In general– Effective beginning with the 2014 crop year, the Risk Management Agency and the Corporation shall make available to producers of peanuts a revenue crop insurance program for peanuts.
(b) Effective price– Subject to subsection (c) , for purposes of the revenue crop insurance program and the multiperil crop insurance program under this Act, the effective price for peanuts shall be equal to the Rotterdam price index for peanuts, as adjusted to reflect the farmer stock price of peanuts in the United States. ”

“ But if the land is to produce a second crop it cannot be left to take care of itself, as it might were it being held for speculative purposes only. It must be protected from fire and trespass. And since the interest and principal invested will amount to so much for so long a period and be totally lost in case of destruction, the protection must be adequate, practically amounting to insurance. The annual cost will vary greatly according to locality, class of timber, and the enforcement of fire laws, but will be from 1 cent at the minimum to 15 cents at the maximum in bad seasons. ”

“ The Corporation shall submit to the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate an annual report on progress made in developing and improving Federal crop insurance for organic crops, including— (I) the numbers and varieties of organic crops insured; (II) the progress of implementing the price elections required under this subparagraph, including the rate at which additional price elections are adopted for organic crops; (III) the development of new insurance approaches relevant to organic producers ”

“ Climate change could affect the Federal Government’s crop insurance subsidy costs in a number of ways—most clearly by increasing the riskiness of crop production due to the impacts of shifting weather patterns and climate disruptions on yield, or the impacts of climate-related production challenges at home and abroad on crop price volatility. ”

“ Responsibility– the Secretary , acting through the agencies of the Department of Agriculture , shall be solely responsible for determining whether a producer is eligible to receive crop insurance premium subsidies in accordance with this subsection. (C) Limitation– the Secretary shall ensure that no agent, approved insurance provider, or employee or contractor of an agency or approved insurance provider, bears responsibility or liability for the eligibility of an insured producer under this subsection, other than in cases of misrepresentation, fraud, or scheme and devise.. ”

“ Key Limitations and UncertaintiesKey Limitations and Uncertainties The cost to the Federal Government of the crop insurance program over the course of this century will depend upon many factors, including climate change. Market conditions and technology will determine the total value of production. For example, a combination of strong demand growth and strong crop yield growth that continues historical trends would result in higher gross revenues, which in turn imply higher liabilities and therefore higher premiums and associated subsidies. ”

“ We must work hard to help bring prosperity back to the family farm.
As this Congress knows very well, dropping prices and the loss of foreign markets have devastated too many family farmers. Last year, the Congress provided substantial assistance to help stave off a disaster in American agriculture, and I am ready to work with lawmakers of both parties to create a farm safety net that will include crop insurance reform and farm income assistance. ”

“ But far too many farmers don't have crop insurance at all or only buy the bare minimum, not enough to withstand a really devastating year.
We need to do more to enable family farmers to fully protect themselves in hard times. ”

“ Implementation– The Board shall review the policy described in subparagraph (B) under sub section 508 (h) and approve the policy if the Board finds that the policy—
(i) will likely result in a viable and marketable policy consistent with this subsection; (ii) would provide crop insurance coverage in a significantly improved form; (iii) adequately protects the interests of producers; and (iv) the proposed policy meets other requirements of this subtitle determined appropriate by the Board . (18) Biomass and sweet sorghum energy crop insurance policies ”

“ We must not put all our time into one crop unless we are rich enough to do our own insurance; for drought, or damp; or accident, ill-adapted seed, or general unfavorable conditions may make failures of one or more crops. But in variety and succession of crops is safety and profit. In order to succeed, crop must be made to follow crop, so that the ground is used to its full capacity. To leave it fallow for even a week is to invite weeds and to lose much of the advantage of tillage, as well as so much time. ”

“ The same principles apply to the miller who wants wheat, to the distiller, the cattle-feeder, and the starch-maker who wants corn, to the brewer who wants hops and barley, to the brass founder who wants copper, and so on indefinitely. Insurance is one of two redeeming features of such speculation; and the other, which is even more important, is the steadying effect which it has on market prices. If no speculative buying83 of produce ever took place, it would be impossible for a grower of wheat or cotton to realize a fair price at once on his crop. ”

“ Research and development– Research and development with respect to each of the policies described in subparagraph (A) shall evaluate the effectiveness of risk management tools for the production of biomass sorghum or sweet sorghum, including policies and plans of insurance that— (i) are based on market prices and yields; (ii) to the extent that insufficient data exist to develop a policy based on market prices and yields, are based on the use of weather indices, including, at a minimum, excessive or inadequate rainfall, to protect the interests of crop producers ”

“ United States, 254 U.S. 141, 143, 41 S.Ct. 55, 56, 65 L.Ed. 188, that 'Men must turn square corners when they deal with the Government,' does not reflect a callous outlook. It merely expresses the duty of all courts to observe the conditions defined by Congress for charging the public treasury. The 'terms and conditions' defined by the Corporation, under authority of Congress, for creating liability on the part of the Government preclude recovery for the loss of the reseeded wheat no matter with what good reason the respondents thought they had obtained insurance from the Government. ”

“ The statute treats the business of hail insurance as affected with a public interest. In that country, where a farmer's whole crop, the work and product of a year, may be wiped out in a few minutes and where the recurrence of such manifestations of nature is not infrequent, and no care can provide against their destructive character, it is of much public moment that agencies like insurance companies to distribute the loss over the entire community should be regulated so as to be effective for the purpose. The danger and loss to be mitigated are possible for a short period. ”

“ HDOA initiated the application process in March 2006 and coordinated county risk assessments with staff economists, statisticians, loan specialists, extension specialists with the University of Hawai`i College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, Hawai`i Farm Bureau Federation staff and volunteer agricultural producers. ”

“ This year, in selected counties and county-level cities in 13 major grain-producing provinces, we will provide catastrophe insurance for farmers engaging in appropriately scaled farming operations. We will channel a portion of budgetary disaster relief funds into this initiative and raise the benefits of the insurance scheme. We will improve the agricultural reinsurance system. We wish to use sustainable and sound agricultural insurance schemes to drive the development of modern agriculture. ”

“ The Legislature was evidently convinced that it would help the public interest if farmers could be induced generally to take out hail insurance and 'temper the wind' so injurious to the agriculture of the state, and that they would be more likely to avail themselves of this protection if they could effect the insurance promptly and on the eve of the danger. ”

“ By whatever name we call it, fire prevention, reforestation, or more vague yet, forest Conservation, we are really offering prosperity insurance. It must be paid for by the community in currency of individual and collective effort, by individual care with the forest and by public policies enforced at public expense. To make the community pay for this commodity requires the same methods that make it buy life insurance; the same devising of a sound, attractive policy that the buyer can see and understand, the same skilful advertising, the same personal persuasion by its agents. ”

“ There is no conceivable limit to the possible applications of the principles of insurance. It seems possible that a body of business farmers, subject as they are to so many disasters from weather, insects and contagious diseases of stock and vegetation, might devise methods of equalizing and diminishing the disaster from such losses in a common system of insurance. As a basis for such systematic action, careful statistics for large regions of country are absolutely necessary. ”

“ Insurances should never be made for a greater sum than the value of the property insured, as it would be paying more premium for no purpose. The offices take good care that they pay no more than the actual value of the property destroyed, which they have the means of ascertaining with some degree of accuracy.
It has been found necessary to subject the insurance of farming stock to special conditions. ”

“ Our population continues to increase by more than 20 per cent each decade, but all future possible additions to the farm lands of the United States amount to only 9 per cent of the present acreage, and most of this small addition requires expensive irrigation or drainage.
If it cost $4 an acre to raise corn, 5 cents a bushel to harvest and market the crop, 9 cents a bushel to maintain the fertility of the soil, and 1/2 per cent on the value of the land for taxes, then, if money is worth 5 per cent, land that produces 20 bushels of 40-cent corn is worth $21.81 an acre. ”

“ Compliance with certain requirements– (1) Requirements– Before the producers on a farm may receive agriculture risk coverage payments or adverse market payments, the producers shall agree, during the crop year for which the payments are made and in exchange for the payments— (A) to comply with applicable conservation requirements under subtitle B of title XII of the Food Security Act of 1985 ( 16 U.S.C. 3811 et seq. ) ; (B) to comply with applicable wetland protection requirements under subtitle C of title XII of that Act ( 16 U.S.C. 3821 et seq. ) ”

“ It is going to cost more money to conserve. The low grades of lumber, slabs, and waste from a mill must bring enough money when sold to pay for the labor expended in saving them. Then, and then only, will they be saved.
Trees can only be reproduced on soil suitable for that purpose and for no other. The timber crop is the process of years of growth, and annual taxes, perpetual fire risk and the desire to use the land for more frequent crops are the deterrent features of reforestation. ”

“ This appropriations bill provides an opportunity each year for the Government to take steps to help hardworking farmers achieve a decent living, despite the misfortune of bad weather, crop disease, collapsing markets, or other forces that affect their livelihoods. It is especially necessary for the Government to act this year, with prices dropping precipitously, crops destroyed by flood, drought, and disease, and where many farmers will see their net income drop by as much as 40 percent below a 5-year average. ”

“ And on the farm the man who is financially able to study and practice conservation of the soil prevents its exhaustion, while his poorer neighbor, lacking the funds for the initial expenses, sells the life of the soil with the crop that he markets, and his farm is soon impoverished. We, or some of us, believe that there should be some way of extending State aid at a low rate of interest to the poor farmer to enable him properly to fertilize his soil ”