Crop Insurance Today First Quarter 2020 - 33

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and roughly 2,000 company staff. This does not
include the Risk Management Agency (RMA),
which has a staff of approximately 400.
All of these "riders" serve in various capacities
working in different functional areas within the
crop insurance industry. From an NCIS perspective, these riders take the form of our association
committee structure. NCIS has 18 regional/state
committees comprised of company employees
who are regularly involved in the implementation and use of both Crop-Hail and Federal policies and procedures. These committees meet at
the local level annually and provide recommendations for changes and improvements to policy
and loss procedures, as well as recommendations
for regional agronomic research projects. In addition, NCIS members serve on industry-level
operational standing committees that support
each NCIS service area. Membership of these
working committees is comprised of senior management company staff or relevant subject matter
experts for a given operational area.
For example, NCIS standing committees
routinely meet to address industry-wide data
processing and data collection issues. Crop
insurance is a data-driven business. Both the
state-regulated and federally-regulated actuarial
and statistical databases are used for premium
rate setting and data mining program integrity
reviews. NCIS standing committees also review
industry training standards and materials as well
as annual reviews of loss procedures and policy
changes. Again, lots of nails, lots of horseshoes,
horses and lots of riders....and lots at stake, both
private industry and tax payer dollars.
As we look to our individual roles within our
industry, we are the individual nails, horses and
riders that must work together every day to make
our industry successful, no matter how small or
insignificant the task may seem to be. As the saying goes, "the devil is in the details..."
So, entering the New Year and New Decade
in crop insurance and agricultural risk management, we must individually realize we are all part
of an industry that is essential to U.S. agriculture,
which is important because a financially stable
agriculture is essential to our economy and our
societal wellbeing.
In this first issue of TODAY® 2020, and with
the dawn of a new decade, we decided to take a
look back at how crop insurance changed and
grew in importance from 2010-2019. Beginning
on page 5 we look at crop insurance develop-

ments and performance over the past 10 years.
Crop insurance was expanded in the 2014 Farm
Bill and solidified as the cornerstone of the farm
safety net in the 2018 Farm Bill. There was a great
deal of growth in the size and scope of crop insurance in terms of the number of policies and
risk management options now available to U.S.
farmers and ranchers. The piece is an interesting
perspective on what was a transformative decade
in crop insurance.
On page 17 you will find a quick look at some
of the major changes to policy and procedure that
are in effect for the 2020 crop year. This is not an
extensive list, but there is some good information
on a few of the more prominent changes, which
will be a great resource for agents when visiting

clients. Speaking of agents and clients, there is an
updated list of insurable crops, plans, and locations available for 2020. This extensive document
has proven to be a quick resource when looking
for insurable crop information.
Another "looking back" article begins on page
19 and features several of the events and activities that happened in the industry through NCIS.
While this list is not all-inclusive either, it does
highlight many of the events NCIS participates
in to help ensure that people understand the important role of crop insurance in supporting Rural America.
Lastly, we highlight the 20 years that Frank
Schnapp spent at NCIS before retiring at the end
of 2019. Frank joined NCIS in 1998 and has been
an invaluable member of our team throughout
his career. His industry contributions were numerous, and his quick wit and joyous personality
will be greatly missed.
We hope you enjoy all of the articles in this
issue. We look forward to seeing many of you at
the Crop Insurance Industry Annual Convention when this publication is released. Have a
great Spring!

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Crop Insurance Today First Quarter 2020

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