Crop Insurance Today First Quarter 2023 - 7

and cut-off factors, and a limbs-destroyed chart
to the 1987 Cotton Loss Instructions. Several
crops, including rice, apples, muskmelon, seed
corn, popcorn, pickling cucumbers, and cabbage
were researched for the first time in the 1980s.
While research continued with many crops
through the 1990s, the decade is highlighted
by research on new crops, new crop management,
and new crop genetics. Canola was recently
introduced to U.S. growers and acreage
ballooned ten-fold from 1991 to over 1.5 million
acres by decades end. Research was initiated
on this new crop in 1990 and by 1993 loss
instructions were developed. Additional canola
research updated the Canola Loss Instructions
in 1997 and 2002. Corn research ramped
up again and focused on determining if management
practices, such as higher plant populations
or narrower rows, resulted in different
responses to hail damage. Further research on
Bt and high-oil corn determined that these
new genetics did not affect their response to
damage. Soybean management practices, such
as solid seeding, drilled seed, and higher planting
populations were researched to determine
if these variables affected stand reduction loss
and to expand the stand reduction tables. Potato
research evaluated hail damage on newer
varieties, including chipping and processing
types. Mint and pumpkin research led to new
loss instructions for these crops in 1997 and
1998, respectively.
The crop insurance industry has maintained a strong research portfolio for the past 100 years. The research is
furthered by outreach that translates and transfers results to both industry personnel and the agriculture industry.
Research on new corn biotechnology continued
in the 2000s to determine if new YieldGard
and RoundUp Ready traits affected response
to hail damage, and further corn research was
conducted on the TopCross Blend system. Corn
stand reduction research that resulted in the 1117-leaf
stand reduction table was also conducted.
Multi-state soybean node removal research,
resulting in updated node-cutoff tables, began
in 2003. In the early 2000s, the industry introduced
potato research on newer, widely planted
varieties like 'Shepody' and 'Russet-Norkotah.'
This potato research was expanded to several
other states in the early 2010s and resulted in
changes to growth staging definitions and plant
damage tables. The research relationship with
the University of Saskatchewan was rekindled in
2006 with Lentil research, and again with peas
in 2009. In 2010, pea research was expanded to
North Dakota and Washington resulting in Dry
Pea Loss Instruction revisions issued in 2018.
In 2015, research was initiated on corn green
snap up to the tassel growth stage. The results
led to follow up stand reduction research up
to the tassel stage that was completed in 2022.
By 2017, a nearly decade-long research effort
on AUP cotton stand reduction, limb removal,
node cut-offs, and terminal removal was completed
that resulted in changes to procedure
that will be introduced to the industry this year
and implemented in 2024. New crop research
continued in the last decade with projects on
hemp and " little " creamer potatoes. Also, research
will begin this year on hops-a new crop
for the research program. The NCIS research
program has resulted in many dynamic and
In the 1950's, semi-dwarf wheat varieties were being developed that now account for nearly all the wheat grown worldwide. National Crop Insurance Services agronomic
research has grown with the rise of Land-Grant University research and kept abreast with technological advances that often change how crops respond to plant damage.
This poster shows the broad reach of the research program in 1981.
Cotton, sunflower, corn, potatoes, grain sorghum, peas, soybean, and
safflower were researched that year.
CROPINSURANCE TODAY®
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Crop Insurance Today First Quarter 2023

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