Crop Insurance Today First Quarter 2020 - 22

out 2019 to help small, limited resource, and
socially disadvantaged farmers develop personal
risk management plans for their farms. Tennessee
State University, University of Arkansas-Pine
Bluff, Alcorn State University, Tuskegee University, and the Federation of Southern Cooperatives
identified farmers from Tennessee, Arkansas,
Mississippi, and Alabama who wanted to participate in the monthly workshops. Farmers learned
how to prepare key financial statements and how
to use them to determine liquidity, solvency,
and profitability. They also set goals for each of
the five risk categories (production, marketing,
financial, legal, and human resource) and determined three specific actions to take to complete
each goal. The projects were selected by RMA to
be funded as Cooperative Agreements with Dr.
Laurence Crane serving as Project Director and
primary instructor for all activities.

Risk Management Education in
Georgia & Pennsylvania
NCIS is partnering with extension educators
at Fort Valley State University in Georgia and
Penn State University in Pennsylvania to teach
a series of workshops on risk management to
small, limited resource and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers in those states. The
program consists of three workshops accompanied by homework and personal study assignments and will focus on helping farmers understand their risk exposure, determine their costs
of production, and develop personalized risk
managements plans for their farms. The sessions,
funded by a Cooperative Agreement with RMA,
began in late 2019 and will wrap up in early 2020.

outreach, technical assistance and wellness for
small farms. Dr. Laurence Crane made a presentation on using crop insurance to manage risk
and discussed the programs available for insurable crops grown in North Carolina.

1890 ARD Symposium

Dr. Laurence Crane, center, receives the Rural
Coalition Service Award.

Participation in Conferences
& Professional Organizations

NCIS staff regularly participates in various
professional organizations throughout the year
to not only build on their area of expertise, but to
continuously stay up-to-date on the agriculture
industry as a whole. Such events also allow NCIS
employees to educate others on the importance
and value of crop insurance.

Management Conference for
North Carolina Minority Farmers
NCIS participated in the 16th Annual Operation Spring Plant, Inc. Conference in Raleigh,
NC, January 11. Operation Spring Plant, Inc. is
a non-profit Community Based Organization
dedicated to the sustainability of black and other
small farms, as owners and operators of the land.
The conference agenda covered USDA programs,

NCIS participated as a sponsor and exhibitor in the 19th biennial 1890 ARD Symposium
March 30-April 2 in Jacksonville, FL. The Association of 1890 Research Directors (ARD) is
the federation of the 19 autonomous 1890 land
grant universities that provides coordination of
research initiatives among member 1890 institutions in cooperation with Federal, state, and
private partners. The symposium, which is held
every other year, provides the opportunity for
scientists and students to present research papers
and posters that share innovative and practical
research findings in the food and agricultural
sciences. The Symposium attracted more than
1,000 registered participants and 500 research
papers and posters were presented focusing on
the theme of the Symposium, "Making Critical
Contributions to Rural Prosperity and Solving
Challenges in Food and Agriculture." Dr. Laurence Crane attended and discussed opportunities for students to pursue careers in the crop
insurance industry.

MANRRS Career Fair
Laurie Langstraat attended the 34th Annual
Career Fair of the Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences (MANRRS)
in Overland Park, KS, April 5. MANRRS is a
nonprofit organization that supports underrepresented minorities in the fields of agriculture, natural resources, and related sciences. More than
900 students attended the career fair, which was
part of the larger training conference where students and representatives from private industry,
government, and academia interact to promote
scholarly excellence, professional development,
networking, and career placement. Laurie represented the crop insurance industry and discussed
opportunities for MANRRS members to pursue
internships and careers in the industry.

SCC-76 Conference

Farmers and extension educators gather for a group picture on the last day of the risk
management workshops in Maryland.

FIRSTQUARTER2020

NCIS staff Tom Zacharias, Harun Bulut,
Frank Schnapp, Matt South, Mickey Paggi, and
Tim Witt attended the SCC-76 Conference,
"Economics and Management of Risk in Agriculture and Natural Resources," April 5-6 in Kansas
City. Conference participants included senior

Crop Insurance Today First Quarter 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crop Insurance Today First Quarter 2020