Crop Insurance Today Second Quarter 2020 - 5

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2019 Year in Review
By NCIS Staff

For anyone involved in agriculture, 2019 will
always be known as the year of prevented planting. Heavy rainfall, flooding, and other adverse
events prevented more than 19 million acres of
crops from being planted across the country. The
most significant prevented planting occurred in
the Midwest, which saw a sharp decline in corn,
soybean, and wheat planting. Overall, it was
an increase of more than 17 million prevented planted acres from 2018 and was the highest
number reported since the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) began keeping track
in 2007.
The 2019 crop year also saw record enrollment
in acres insured with more than 380 million acres
protected by crop insurance. Indemnities under
the Federal program are estimated to be approximately $10 billion, providing essential relief to
farmers in the hardest hit areas, enabling them to
Fig. 1

tional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster
Relief Act of 2019.
This article reports on the 2019 crop insurance season, highlighting the significant events
that affected the crop insurance industry. A discussion of weather conditions and their impacts
on crop production is followed by a review of
commodity markets and prices. The overall results of the Federal crop insurance program are
presented followed by the Crop-Hail experience
for the United States and Canada.

pay creditors and remain in business. More than
70 percent of the indemnities paid were due to
excess moisture, while cold wet weather and hail
each represented another five percent of the losses. The state-regulated Crop-Hail program also
had a record year, with just over $1 billion in premium written, the largest premium in the history
of the program. Losses paid were $996 million, the
highest since 2014.
With the unprecedented number of prevented planting acres and severe crop loss in other areas of the country, the Risk Management Agency
(RMA) authorized several relief measures for
farmers. USDA/RMA also asked the Approved
Insurance Providers (AIPs) for help in delivering
disaster assistance to farmers who had received
prevented planting crop insurance indemnities.
The AIPs efficiently delivered almost $600 million in "top off " payments as part of the Addi-

U.S. Weather and
Production of Major Crops

Winter 2018-19: Although there were fewer tropical disturbances, drought, and wildfires
in 2019 than in 2018, it was another troubling
year. It began with the wettest winter on record
over the past 124 years,1 as winter precipitation

Winter 2019 (Dec-Feb): Statewide Precipitation and Temperature Ranks 1895-2019
Statewide Precipitation Ranks

Statewide Average Temperature Ranks

Period: 1895-2019

Period: 1895-2019

December 2018-February 2019

December 2018-February 2019

47
76
84

79
63
106

101

118
118

101

98

91

114
116

70

113
117
102
123
96
103
110
111
105
115
122
112
114
100
119 115
107
119
118
120
121
116
124

86

122
102

Much
Below
Average

Below
Average

Near
Average

48

115 120

Above
Average

83

52
69

62

62
55
55

71

82

40

52

59

89

100
92

54
83

86

Much
Above
Average

94

Record
Wettest
(124)

101

86

102
110

109

103

103

113
108 115

115

118

Record
Coldest
(1)

Much
Below
Average

Below
Average

Near
Average

86
92
101
101
104
105
103
99

114

116
100

116
National Centers for
Environmental
Information
Mon Mar 4, 2019

94

51

43

53

97

112

Record
Driest
(1)

51

100

109

Above
Average

Much
Above
Average

National Centers for
Environmental
Information
Mon Mar 4, 2019

Record
Warmest
(124)

Source: https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/temp-and-precip/us-maps
1

https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/national/201902
*For interpretation of rankings: https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/monitoring-references/dyk/ranking-definition
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http://ag-risk.org https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/temp-and-precip/us-maps https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/national/201902 https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/monitoring-references/dyk/ranking-definition
Crop Insurance Today Second Quarter 2020

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