Crop Insurance Today September 2014 - (Page 1)

TODAY PRESIDENT'SMESSAGE "...Where to now, St. Peter?" Affordability Now This is the second in a three-part series. The original article was published in the May 2014 issue of Crop Insurance TODAY ®. Laurie Langstraat, Editor Hannah Wiebelhaus, Assistant Editor TODAY® IS PROVIDED AS A SERVICE OF NATIONAL CROP INSURANCE SERVICES® TO EDUCATE READERS ABOUT THE RISK MANAGEMENT TOOLS PRODUCERS USE TO PROTECT THEMSELVES FROM THE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH PRODUCTION AGRICULTURE. TODAY is published quarterly-February, May, August, and November by National Crop Insurance Services 8900 Indian Creek Parkway, Suite 600 Overland Park, Kansas 66210 www.ag-risk.org If you move, or if your address is incorrect, please send old address label clipped from recent issue along with your new or corrected address to Donna Bryan, at the above address. NCIS® EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Tim Weber, Chairman Mike Day, Vice Chairman Jim Korin, Second Vice Chairman NCIS® MANAGEMENT Thomas P. Zacharias, President Charles Lee, General Counsel James M. Crist, CFO/COO Frank Schnapp, Senior Vice President Mike Sieben, Senior Vice President Creative Layout and Design by Graphic Arts of Topeka, Inc., Kansas Printed on recycled paper. Many of us recall the Seinfeld television series which aired for 10 years with 180 episodes. In sitting down to share my thoughts for this President's Message, I was reminded of Episode #159 "The Serenity Now" (aired October 9, 1997). In this particular episode, George's father was "prescribed" to utter the phrase "Serenity Now" when he felt his blood pressure spiking. Here is an excerpt from the transcript of that episode: Frank Costanza: "Serenity Now! Serenity Now!" George Costanza: "What is that?" Frank: "Doctor gave me a relaxation cassette. When my blood pressure gets too high, the man on the tape tells me to say, 'Serenity Now!'" Tom Zacharias, NCIS President George: "Are you supposed to yell it?" Frank: "The man on the tape wasn't specific." Okay, enough levity and stream of consciousness. What does this have to do with crop insurance and the new Farm Bill? As readers of this quarterly discourse may recall, in the last issue of TODAY® we asked "Where to Now, St. Peter?" as crop insurance has become the centerpiece of the farm safety net in the 2014 Farm Bill. In discussing the "Road" to be traveled, we focused on three key elements for crop insurance to be successful as we go forward. These elements are: 1) availability; 2) affordability; and 3) viability. In the previous issue we discussed crop insurance availability. Crop insurance is now widely available in 3,135 counties nationwide with more than 120 different crop programs covering 296 million acres in 2013 with $124 billion in crop protection liability. We also stressed the importance of the new Farm Bill as it established risk management-based crop insurance as the foundation of future agricultural policy. With passage of the Farm Bill, two new risk management products became available for private sector delivery: the Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) and the Stacked Income Protection Plan (STAX). In addition to SCO and STAX, existing coverage will be enhanced with the Enterprise Unit discount moving from a pilot to a permanent program and the expansion of enterprise unit availability by practice. The Farm Bill also provides beginning farmers and ranchers with additional premium discounts and the benefit of higher insurable yields, making crop insurance more affordable and available to more growers. So, back to our latest Seinfeld episode...we turn to "Affordability Now." A Little Background on Affordability Affordability goes hand-in-hand with availability. The progression of the modern day crop insurance program is in no small part due to the emphasis and investment Congress has made in making crop insurance products more affordable. Let us take a little walk down memory lane.... Historically, concern over the limited availability of insurance for farmers and insufficient capacity to cover catastrophic risks faced by private companies resulted in the Federal Crop Insurance Printed with Environmentally friendly vegetable oil based inks. Continued on page 38 CROPINSURANCE TODAY® 1 http://www.ag-risk.org http://www.ag-risk.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crop Insurance Today September 2014

Affordability Now
The PRISM Climate & Weather System in Crop Insurance
2013 Research Review
First Day at School? A Word of Advice
Finally a Farm Bill... So What's Next?
AFA's Value to Students and Agriculture
2013 U.S. Crop-Hail & MPCI Loss Ratio by State
The Future of TODAY

Crop Insurance Today September 2014