FEBRUARY 2015 • VOL. 48, NO. 1

P U B L I C A T I O N O F N A T I O N A L C R O P I N S U R A N C E S E R V I C E S ®

NCIS Agricultural Research & Technology Program

Whole-Farm Revenue Protection

Introducing RCIS Mobile™

Essential crop insurance information on the go from your Android or iOS mobile device

Convenient, one-stop access to policyholder, coverage, and claims information from the fi eld. We know you want to be as productive in the fi eld as you are from your offi ce. That’s why at RCIS, we worked with agents to develop the robust RCIS Mobile app. It harnesses the information and services agents use most into a single, easy-to-use tool for mobile devices. Our one-stop application helps RCIS agents provide better customer service outside the offi ce. Available on Android and iOS.

To learn more, visit RCIS.com.

Rural Community Insurance Agency, Inc., D/B/A RCIS. RCIS is an equal opportunity provider. © 2015 Rural Community Insurance Agency, Inc. All rights reserved. WCS-1226580

WCS-1226580-RCIS-Crop-Insurance-Today-Mag-12-14.indd 1 1/7/15 2:57 PM

It was just last year at the time of our Crop In-surance Industry’s Annual Convention that the 2014 Farm Bill had been signed. And for many of us, it has been yet another rendition of “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride” ever since. By the time of this publication, we will still be in the midst of preparing for the spring sales sea-son and attempting to ensure that we, as an industry, have put in place all that is necessary to successfully implement the majority of the provisions of the Bill. Much work has been done, much work remains.

The Work to DateThe Farm Bill strengthened crop insurance’s role

as the primary component of the farm safety net. This was accomplished by adding to the current suite of crop insurance offerings and providing for cover-

age enhancements to the existing program. Through the use of crop insurance, farmers will be better able to protect against losses due to natural disasters and uncertain markets.

One of the new insurance products, Stacked Income Protection Plan, or STAX, is for upland cotton acreage only. STAX is an area revenue plan that a cotton producer may use alone or in com-bination with an underlying policy. It is available in all counties where Federal crop insurance cov-erage is available for upland cotton. The second new policy, the Supplemental Coverage Option, or SCO, provides crop producers with the option to purchase area coverage in combination with an underlying individual policy that allows indemnities to be equal to a part of the deductible on the underlying policy. SCO is available for spring barley, corn, soybeans, spring wheat, sorghum, cotton and rice in specific counties depending on the availability of the data. Additional crops and counties are being reviewed for inclusion in SCO beginning with the 2016 crop year.

In addition to area-based plans, the new Farm Bill may also result in a number of new crop insurance products coming to market. New product priorities are placed on policies that in-crease participation by producers of under-served commodities. The Whole Farm Revenue Pro-tection policy was in development prior to enactment of the Farm Bill and is available for sale now. Provisions for beginning farmers and ranchers are also contained in the Bill and include a premium discount.

The importance of the 2014 Farm Bill for U.S. agriculture cannot be overstated. With this legislation, crop insurance became the centerpiece of the farm safety net. Why? Because crop insurance has been, and continues to be, the common-sense solution for dealing with natural disasters and market uncertainties in agriculture. We enumerated the “Strengths of Crop Insur-ance” several years ago in this publication (February 2011). I will not review them all again here, but will highlight just a few of the more salient attributes of crop insurance that have served agriculture and the taxpayer well.

First, with the current crop insurance system, there is cost-sharing on three levels. Farmers

Laurie Langstraat, 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 600Overland 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 COMMITTEETim Weber, Chairman

Mike Day, Vice ChairmanJim Korin, Second Vice Chairman

NCIS® MANAGEMENTThomas P. Zacharias, President

Charles Lee, General CounselJames M. Crist, CFO/COO

Sherri Scharff, Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff

Troy Brady, Senior Vice PresidentFrank Schnapp, Senior Vice President

Mike Sieben, Senior Vice President

Creative Layout and Design by Graphic Arts of Topeka, Inc., Kansas

TODAY PRESIDENT’SMESSAGE

Printed on recycled paper. Printed with Environmentallyfriendly vegetable oil based inks.

Continued on page 33

Tom Zacharias, NCIS President

in ProgressA Work

Introducing RCIS Mobile™

Essential crop insurance information on the go from your Android or iOS mobile device

Convenient, one-stop access to policyholder, coverage, and claims information from the fi eld. We know you want to be as productive in the fi eld as you are from your offi ce. That’s why at RCIS, we worked with agents to develop the robust RCIS Mobile app. It harnesses the information and services agents use most into a single, easy-to-use tool for mobile devices. Our one-stop application helps RCIS agents provide better customer service outside the offi ce. Available on Android and iOS.

To learn more, visit RCIS.com.

Rural Community Insurance Agency, Inc., D/B/A RCIS. RCIS is an equal opportunity provider. © 2015 Rural Community Insurance Agency, Inc. All rights reserved. WCS-1226580

WCS-1226580-RCIS-Crop-Insurance-Today-Mag-12-14.indd 1 1/7/15 2:57 PM

CROPINSURANCE TODAY® 1

1 A Work in Progress

4 Whole-Farm Revenue Protection

10 2014 A Year of Involvement

22 NCIS Agricultural Research & Technology Program

28 Crop Insurance In Action: Art Wiebelhaus, Fordyce, Nebraska

30 In Memory Mike Felt

31 In Memory Irl Oaks, Jr.

37 Insurable Crops Location & Plans

48 FFA Proficiency Winner

Table of Contents

4

VOL. 48, NO. 1

FEBRUARY 2015

Copyright NoticeAll material distributed by National Crop Insurance Services is protected by copyright and other laws. All rights reserved. Possession of this material does not confer the right to print, reprint, publish, copy, input, transform, distribute or use same in any manner without the prior written permission of NCIS. Permission is hereby granted to Members in good standing of NCIS whose Membership Class (and service area, if membership is limited by service area) entitles them to receive copies of the enclosed or attached material to reprint, copy or distribute such NCIS copyrighted material in its present form solely for their own business use and solely to employees, adjusters or agents who are under contract with them, and as a condition to receiving such copies, such employees, adjusters and agents agree that they will not reprint, copy or distribute, or permit use of any such NCIS copyrighted material to or by any other person and/or company, or transform into another work such NCIS copyrighted material, without prior written permission of NCIS.© 2015 National Crop Insurance Services, Inc.

www.cropinsuranceinamerica.org••••••••••••••• Visit •••••••••••••••

28

10

ProAg® is an equal opportunity provider. A subsidiary of HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc. www.ProAg.com

Safe. Secure. Strong.Come experience the ProAg difference today.

Safe. Secure. Strong.Experienced crop insurance professionals.Multiple products available for customizing a farm safety net.Financial strength and security of an A+ A.M. Best ranked insurer.

CropInsurance TODAY

Farming and ranching is expensive. From operating costs, to land and machinery costs, producers have a large investment in every commodity that is grown. The financial im-pact of losing a commodity can be substan-tial and operating without a risk management safety net makes it difficult, even impossible, to continue farming after a loss event if no in-surance is available. Producers may also find it difficult to obtain the credit necessary to produce a commodity without the collateral provided by Federal crop insurance.

Improved insurance availability for spe-

cialty commodity growers is a need within the risk management safety net that has been ev-ident for several years. Across the U.S., inter-est in healthy eating with support for direct, local, regional, organic, and specialty farm markets is widespread. Additionally, there is increased focus on sustainable agricultural practices supported by the diversification of commodities on farms. Together, these have created much of the demand for a better safety net for specialty crop growers. This interest is evident as specialty crops have been included in the last several Farm Bills with provisions for whole-farm insurance also included in the Agricultural Act of 2014. The Risk Manage-ment Agency (RMA) received many calls over the past few years asking for the development

of a whole-farm insurance product with en-hanced features and improvements from the previous Adjusted Gross Revenue and Adjust-ed Gross Revenue-Lite (AGR and AGR-Lite) insurance.

It is expensive and resource-intensive to research, develop, and implement one single commodity insurance product, much less the large number of products that would be necessary to cover the specialty commodities grown in the U.S. However, the largest single factor preventing development of individual crop insurance policies is simply the lack of sufficient data.

RMA’s Portfolio Analysis, released in July 2013, identified percentages of U.S. acres as not covered by insurance as shown in Table 1.

A New Tool in the Risk Management Safety Net

Whole-Farm Revenue Protection

By Leiann Nelson, Risk Management Agency

4 FEBRUARY2015

Federal crop insurance responded to the need for a whole-farm risk management safe-ty net with the release of the Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) insurance prod-uct in November 2014. WFRP is designed to meet the needs of highly diverse farms that are growing a wide range of commodi-ties, and those of farms selling commodities to the wholesale markets. The WFRP poli-cy was specifically developed for farms that tend to sell to direct, local or regional, and farm-identity preserved markets and grow specialty or organic crops and animals and animal products.

WFRP is available for the 2015 insurance year in the states and counties shown on the map in Figure 1.

The addition of this new insurance prod-uct to the agent’s portfolio can provide an opportunity to serve additional markets that have not previously had available insurance, as well as providing a choice that agents can bundle with other MPCI insurance. Import-ant aspects of the new WFRP insurance are that it provides:

• Risk management protection for the in-sured farm under one policy, protecting against the loss of revenue during the in-surance period;

• A range of coverage levels from 50-85 per-cent to fit the needs of farming and ranch-ing operations;

• Replant coverage for annual crops; • The ability to consider market readiness

costs as part of the insured revenue and expenses;

• Provisions to adjust the insurance guaran-tee upwards to better fit the needs of ex-panding operations;

• Insurance reflecting the type of market the producer sells to, such as allowing organic prices to be used to value certified organic production;

• Time lines to fit both calendar and fiscal year based farming operations so that reporting and billing times better fit the farm; and,

Commodity Grouping Percent of Uncovered Acres

Principle Crops 15% Other Field Crops 30% (except Hay) Fruits & Nuts 27% Vegetables 68%

Table 1.

n WFRP Pilot Area

Figure 1. Whole Farm Revenue Protection Pilot Area

CROPINSURANCE TODAY® 5

• Streamlined underwriting procedures based on the forms used for WFRP.The WFRP policy and actuarial materials

were released on the RMA website in No-vember and can be found at: www.rma.usda.gov/policies/wfrp.html. Sales closing dates are February 28 or March 15, depending on the county and can be found in the actuarial doc-uments. Producers will provide the agent with the current year’s farm plan and five years of farm tax records (2009-2013 for the 2015 in-surance year). This information, along with supporting documentation, will be used to determine the amount of insurance that can be provided for the farm.

WFRP has some coverage limits that are shown in the sidebar on page 7. Farms that exceed these limits are not eligible for WFRP so it is important to be aware of these limits.

The core of WFRP is the Farm Operation Report. It is here that approved revenue for the policy is determined as the lower of the expected revenue from the farm plan for the insurance year or the five-year historic allow-able revenue adjusted for growth. Approved revenue represents an amount of revenue that can reasonably be expected to be produced on the farm during the insurance year. The ap-proved revenue and the coverage level select-ed by the producer are used to determine the insured amount of revenue.

Agents begin the process by recording the producer’s current year farm plan on the Farm Operation Report and will then com-plete an Allowable Revenue Worksheet and an Allowable Expense Worksheet for each year of the history (2009-2013 for the 2015 insurance year). These worksheets are where post production expenses, except those that are considered to be market readiness costs, are removed.

Market readiness provisions in the pol-icy are a Farm Bill change that allows some post-production expenses to be left in the in-sured revenue instead of being removed. To qualify as market readiness operations, the costs must be: 1) The minimum necessary to remove the commodity from the field and make it market ready, and 2) Performed in the field or in close proximity to the field. Oth-er post-production costs that do not qualify as market readiness costs, for activities that occur on or off the farm after producing and harvesting a commodity such as packing and

packaging, as well as any added value oper-ations such as making wine from grapes or putting together gift baskets for the farmer’s market, must be removed from the expected revenue and allowable revenue as well as from the allowable expenses.

The Whole-Farm History Report summa-rizes the results from the worksheets and farm growth is determined. There are two ways the WFRP policy looks at growing operations. The first method is an indexing procedure that looks for historic growth and projects income into the future. This procedure is simply a mathematical calculation that looks at the last two years of the history and, if one of those years is greater than the five-year average, the amount of growth is measured and projected forward to represent the insurance year.

The second measure of growth is called an expanding operation. The insured provides information showing that physical changes have occurred on the farm and, if the com-pany approves, an expanded operation in-crease of 10 percent over the five year average allowable income would apply to the historic revenue. If either of these growth measures is applicable to the farm then the historic reve-nue will be adjusted upwards.

The final results of the Whole-Farm His-tory Report are added to the Farm Operation Report and the approved revenue, which is the lower of the expected revenue from the farm plan for the insurance year or the results from the Whole-Farm History Report (historic rev-

enue adjusted for growth), is determined.It is important to understand that WFRP

is covering revenue produced during the in-surance year. For example: If a calf weighs 800 pounds at the beginning of the year and will be sold at 1200 pounds during the insurance year, the value of production will be the additional 400 pounds gained. If a farm has inventory or accounts receivable, this information will be used to remove production produced during previous years and to add revenue for produc-tion that hasn’t been harvested or sold yet.

The WFRP product also measures diver-sification on the farm because diversification reduces revenue risk. A specific amount of revenue is required to be produced from each commodity for it to be included in the count of commodities. In general, the “commodity count” calculation determines a minimum proportion of revenue a commodity must contribute to the farm to be considered a commodity for WFRP. This determination is based on the portion of revenue coming from each commodity on the farm.

A farm’s revenue would be most diversified if an equal percentage of revenue came from each commodity produced, for example, 25 percent from corn, 25 percent from soybeans, 25 percent from spinach and 25 percent from carrots. The minimum proportion required by WFRP is one-third of that amount. There-fore, in this four commodity example, each commodity would have to make up at least 8.3 percent of the total revenue of the farm to count as a commodity under WFRP (one-third of the 25 percent). The resulting count of commodities is an important part of WFRP because it determines: • If the farm qualifies for the 80 and 85 per-

cent coverage levels —a minimum of three commodities is required.

• If two or more commodities are present on a potato farm—a minimum of two com-

Sample Farm: The Numbers:

WFRP Farm Example

Farm in Cumberland County, New Jersey: Highly Diverse Farm: beets $1000, cauliflower $3000, Chinese cabbage $3000, cilantro $1000, cucumber (pickling) $3000, game birds $5000, green peas $3000, Indian corn $3000, kohlrabi $2000, leeks $3000, raspberries $20.000, zucchini squash $3000.Approved Revenue = $50,000

75% WFRP CoverageLiability $37,500

Total Premium $2,325Whole-Farm Premium Subsidy $1,860

Producer Premium $465

The WFRP product also

measures diversification on

the farm because diversifi-

cation reduces revenue risk.

6 FEBRUARY2015

Table 2. WFRP Premium Subsidy: Percentage of Paid by Government Coverage Level 50% 55% 60% 65% 70% 75% 80% 85%

Basic Subsidy-Qualifying Commodity Count: 1 67% 64% 64% 59% 59% 55% N/A N/A Whole-Farm Subsidy-Qualifying Commodity Count: 2 80% 80% 80% 80% 80% 80% N/A N/A Whole-Farm Subsidy-Qualifying Commodity Count: 3 or more 80% 80% 80% 80% 80% 80% 71% 56%

modities is required. • If two or more commodities are present on

a farm with a commodity insurable under Revenue Protection, Revenue Protection with the Harvest Price Exclusion or the Actual Revenue History plan of insur-ance—a minimum of two commodities is required.

• The amount of premium rate discount that will be provided due to diversifica-tion—farms with two or more commod-ities receive a premium rate discount based on the amount of diversification. This discount is a reflection of the lower risk of revenue loss because of the farms diversification.

• The amount of premium subsidy that will be provided—farms with two or more commodities will receive whole-farm subsidy. Agents may sell other Federal reinsured

crop insurance coverage to insureds along with WFRP as long as the other policy provides coverage at a ‘buy-up’ coverage level and not at the ‘catastrophic’ coverage level. When other Federal reinsured crop insurance policies are purchased in conjunction with WFRP, the to-tal liability from those policies, up to 50 per-cent of the WFRP policy liability, will be used to adjust the WFRP liability amount down-wards for premium calculation purposes. The liability adjustment will be used only for the premium calculation and will result in a re-duced amount of WFRP premium. The other Federal reinsured crop insurance will become the primary policy and any indemnity paid on those policies will be considered to be reve-nue for the insurance year under the WFRP policy to assure duplicate payments for the same crop loss are not made. Insureds are not required to purchase other Federal reinsured crop insurance policies.

Replant coverage is also part of WFRP for annual crops that are not insured under an-other FCIC reinsured policy. Damage to the commodity must be due to an insured cause of loss and the AIP must agree whether is

practical to replant and give their consent to replant. The maximum amount of a replant payment will be the lower of: 1) 20 percent of the expected revenue times the coverage level per acre for the commodity or 2) the actual cost of replanting per acre.

WFRP requires a ‘Revised Farm Opera-tion Report’ to be filed later in the insurance year, just like an acreage report is filed for other insurance products. If the farm is pro-ducing exactly what the producer reported on the Intended Farm Operation Report, the Farm Operation Report will just need to be signed at that time. The billed premium is cal-culated based on the Revised Farm Operation Report. Premium rates for WFRP are based on risk pools, using data for commodities that is available to provide rates for commodities that do not have data. Premium rates are farm specific depending upon what is grown. A farm example from Cumberland, New Jersey can be found in the sidebar on page 6.

WFRP offers subsidy amounts based on the count of commodities. Farms with two or more commodities that significantly contrib-ute to the operation will receive a whole-farm

subsidy. These subsidies are equivalent to the subsidy amounts provided to insureds with traditional commodities on a whole-farm basis. Farms with only one commodity will receive the basic subsidy. Table 2 below shows the applicable subsidy amounts for WFRP.

All commodities produced by the farm are covered under the WFRP policy, so an in-sured farm may have a loss on one commod-ity but if overall farm revenue is above the insurance guarantee no indemnity would be due. Losses occur when the allowable revenue for the insurance year falls below the insured revenue and may be caused by natural causes of loss or a decline in market price during the insurance year.

Farm taxes for the insured year have to be filed before a claim can be filed and loss ad-justers will use the same Allowable Revenue Worksheet and Allowable Expense Worksheet to gather applicable information from the farm tax forms for the insured year. The loss adjust-er will determine if an expense adjustment to the insured amount of revenue is necessary. This occurs when a farm does not incur at least 70 percent of their approved expense amount.

WFRP Farm Eligibility Limits • The farm’s total coverage must be $8.5 million or less at the sales closing date

(this is approved revenue multiplied by the selected coverage level); • The expected revenue from animals and animal products on the farm cannot be

greater than $1 million, or more than 35 percent of the expected revenue as determined on the sales closing date;

• The expected revenue from nursery and greenhouse products on the farm cannot be greater than $1 million, or more than 35 percent of the expected revenue as determined on the sales closing date;

• The farm must have a commodity count of two or more if the farm has potatoes; and,

• Farms with a commodity insurable under Revenue Protection, Revenue Protection with the Harvest Price Exclusion, or the Actual Revenue History plan of insurance must have a minimum of two commodities on the farm in order to qualify.

CROPINSURANCE TODAY® 7

Loss adjusters will also record any inventory and accounts receivable to use in the deter-mination of revenue-to-count on the claims form. If the final insured amount of revenue is less than revenue-to-count, then an indemnity payment will be made to the insured.

While underwriting a WFRP policy is an intensive process the first few times, in-surance companies have told RMA that once they gain experience writing whole-farm policies (from the AGR and AGR-Lite products) underwriting becomes faster and easier. Additionally, once the farm has had WFRP for one year, the following year the oldest year of history is dropped off, the new year of history is added, and the farm plan is completed so the underwriting process will be shortened as insureds return for subse-quent years. WFRP policy worksheets and forms were designed to help lead the agent through the underwriting process.

Some suggestions for learning about WFRP so that you can successfully incorpo-

rate it into the portfolio of products you offer to your customers are to: • Understand that the guarantee is the lower

of the current year’s Farm Operation Re-port expected revenue or the historic reve-nue adjusted for growth.

• Understand the calculation of commodity count and how it works. This is an import-ant ‘backbone’ in the policy that guides el-igibility, coverage level choices, discounts of the farm premium rate and subsidy.

• Understand what expected values should be used to value commodities.

• Understand that WFRP covers production for the insured year and the role of inven-tory, accounts receivable and accounts payable all play in adjusting revenue to the current year.

• Know the reporting requirements. • Understand that the three sections of the

Farm Operation Report, Intended, Re-vised, and Final, will be filled out com-pletely over the insurance year.

• Understand how the Revised Farm Opera-tion Report should be completed.

• Understand how WFRP interacts with MPCI insurance when both are pur-chased, both for premium and indemnity.

• Understand how the worksheets and forms work together to lead you efficiently through the underwriting process.The new WFRP product is a window of

opportunity for insurance companies and agents to grow their crop insurance business through both new and existing customers. It provides a risk management safety net op-portunity to an entire sector of U.S. agricul-ture that previously did not have insurance available, which can make a real difference when there are loss events, not just to a sin-gle producer, but to U.S. agriculture, the U.S. food supply, and to the economy in general. WFRP puts specialty commodity produc-ers on the same footing as principle crop producers particularly since WFRP offers whole-farm premium subsidy.

8 FEBRUARY2015

Are you leaving it out in the pasture?

Don’t leave business behind by not offering your insureds livestock risk protection!

Call us today to learn more!1-844-944-FARMagrilogic.com

2014CropInsurance TODAY

As we look back at the NCIS activities in 2014, a large part of them can be summed up in two words: Farm Bill. After almost four years of hearings, negotiations and Congressional votes, the Agricultural Act of 2014 was signed into law by President Obama on February 7, 2014. We knew the Farm Bill would eventually come to fruition and we had done our best to prepare for its implementation. In early March, the industry began meeting with the Risk Management Agency to discuss the implementation timeline and that’s when the work began in full force. NCIS staff spent countless hours analyzing proposed

language and procedure, discussing it via conference call with various standing committees, providing written comments back to RMA and starting the process all over again until the details became final. Then it was time to train: the company employees, agents, adjusters…everyone needed to know how the new programs worked, how they impacted the “traditional” crop insurance program, and how best to explain the myriad of options to America’s farmers and ranchers.

But even though implementation of the Farm Bill was the hot topic of 2014, that didn’t mean the other “standard” NCIS activities ceased.

A Year ofInvolvement

Farmers in Clinton, NC, participating in a risk management education workshop sponsored by NCIS and funded by a Risk Management Agency Cooperative Agreement.

VisitWebsiteag-risk.org

10 FEBRUARY2015

There were still regional/state annual meet-ings, loss adjuster schools, the annual conven-tion and presentations to make at risk man-agement conferences, professional societies and agent conferences. Reporters called with questions about the farm bill and critics were active in their vocal opposition to crop insur-ance. The daily work didn’t get put on the back burner and staff worked long hours to make sure everything got done, and was done well.

As we begin 2015, we are hopeful that this year will again be another successful year for America’s farmers and ranchers as the crop insurance industry, along with our govern-ment partners, continues to provide the best risk management product possible. This arti-cle is a recap of some of the activities NCIS was involved in in 2014.

Farm Bill ActivitiesAs stated earlier, NCIS staff and the indus-

try were very active with Farm Bill implemen-tation in 2014. Many of the NCIS standing committee meetings and conference calls and the fall and spring Train-the-Trainer sessions in July and November were focused on dis-cussing new policy and procedure language and preparing company IT systems to handle the new processing requirements and trainers to disseminate the information to agents. In addition to those activities, there were other sessions that NCIS was involved in as well. • 2014 Farm Bill Listening Session: The

Farm Service Agency and Risk Manage-ment Agency hosted a 2014 Farm Bill Listening Session for stakeholders and the public to share their views, priorities, and concerns about the new farm bill’s pro-grams and changes. The Listening Session was held in late March in Washington, D.C. NCIS’ Troy Brady and Jessica Trites-Rolle attended. FSA and RMA heard from

many agriculture industry groups who indicated their support for efforts already taken to implement the Farm Bill, as well as their willingness to engage the agencies in additional discussions on subsequent implementation efforts.

• Farm Bill Panel: The office of Senator Thad Cochran, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, organized a panel discussion for minority staff on Farm Bill implementa-tion on April 1. The panel included: Dale Moore, Executive Director for Public Poli-cy, American Farm Bureau Federation and former Chief of Staff, USDA; Jim Little, former Administrator of the Farm Service Agency, USDA; and Keith Collins, NCIS advisor and former Chief Economist, USDA. The panel discussed their experi-ences with implementing prior farm bills, including internal processes for providing policy analysis and guidance, establish-ing timelines, working with stakeholders, rulemaking, organizing staff and bud-get resources, software development and communication and education.

• Article Published in Agricultural Finance Review: Drs. Harun Bulut and Keith Col-lins published an article in the August is-sue of Agricultural Finance Review, an aca-demic journal, Volume 74, Number 3, pp. 397-426. The article is titled “Designing farm supplemental revenue coverage op-tions on top of crop insurance coverage” and assesses, based on simulation analysis, farmer choice between crop insurance and supplemental revenue options as proposed during development of the 2014 Farm Bill.

• 2014 Farm Bill Extension Conference: A National conference for Extension Ed-ucators was held September 3-4 in Kan-sas City, Missouri. The conference was a train-the-trainer event for more than 150 extension professionals nationwide to learn about the 2014 Farm Bill and gather the materials, insight and tools needed to educate producers and others about farm bill programs, decisions, and issues. NCIS helped to sponsor the conference and Dr. Laurence Crane moderated the opening plenary session on Title 1 of the bill where the commodity programs and the crop insurance program options and decisions

RMA Administrator, Brandon Willis, addressed the crowd at the 2014 Crop Insurance Industry Annual Convention.

Dan Wrinn with Ducks Unlimited addressed the group at the 2014 Crop Insurance Industry Annual Convention.

Members of the NCIS Training Committee and staff met to review questions and answers on the Crop Adjuster Proficiency Program (CAPP) exams.

As we begin 2015, we are

hopeful that this year will

again be another success-

ful year for America’s farm-

ers and ranchers as the

crop insurance industry,

along with our government

partners, continues to pro-

vide the best risk manage-

ment product possible.

CROPINSURANCE TODAY® 11

were discussed. • Farm Bill Workshop for 1890 Educators:

A workshop for Extension Educators from the 1890 Land Grant Universities was held November 6, in Atlanta, Georgia. The con-ference was a train-the-trainer event for extension and other allied professionals to learn about the 2014 Farm Bill and gather the materials, insight, and tools needed to educate small, limited resource, and so-cially disadvantaged producers about farm bill programs, decisions, and issues. NCIS participated on the planning committee and helped to conduct the training. Dr. Laurence Crane discussed record keeping and reviewed the types of production re-cords that are critical to participating in crop insurance and NAP programs.

NCIS Risk Management Education

Working at times in partnership with RMA and at times by itself, NCIS conducts seminars or develops tools on risk manage-ment for limited resource and socially dis-advantaged farmers and others interested in better managing risk. The hope is that helping farmers develop better risk management tools

ensures their long-term viability. • Risk Management Publication: A special

initiative by Extension Risk Management Education and the Risk Management Agency was the release of a special pub-lication titled; Introduction to Risk Man-agement, Understanding Agricultural Risks (Second Edition, 2013).This handbook provides an overview of risk management planning and the steps in managing risk. It reviews the five areas of agricultural risk (production, marketing, financial, human resource, and legal), along with strategies for managing these risks, and provides a checklist for each risk category to provoke thinking and action. Authors are: Laurence Crane, NCIS; Gene Gantz, RMA; Steve Isaacs, University of Ken-

tucky; Doug Jose, University of Nebraska; and Rod Sharp, Colorado State University. This publication can be accessed electron-ically at: www.extensionrme.org

• NCIS/RMA Funded Cooperative Agree-ment: NCIS conducted a series of Risk Management Education workshops in cooperation with North Carolina Agri-cultural and Technical State University. The objective of this educational activity was to help limited resource and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers in the Strike Force counties of North Carolina develop risk management plans for their farms. This training consisted of a series of three day-long workshops in two locations and sixty hours of individualized instruc-tion. The workshops were held January, February and March in Lumberton and Clinton. Dr. Laurence Crane was Project Director of this activity.

• Farm Credit Risk Management Con-ference: Approximately 75 Farm Credit employees including loan officers, credit analysts, business consultants and man-agement, from three Farm Credit associa-tions (AgChoice Farm Credit, MidAtlantic Farm Credit, and Farm Credit of the Vir-ginias) met in Chambersburg, Pennsylva-nia on August 26-27, for in-depth training on managing risk in the dairy industry. NCIS was invited to attend and provide an overview of risk management and crop insurance. Dr. Laurence Crane was the plenary presenter and also facilitated a discussion on the five areas of risk includ-ing identification, prioritization, and risk treatment tools. He also participated in a panel discussion on addressing risk in the dairy industry using a holistic approach.

• RINLA Winter Meeting and Expo: The Rhode Island Nursery and Landscape Association (RINLA) Winter Meeting and Expo were held on the University of Rhode Island (URI) campus, January 16-17, in Kingston. Dr. Laurence Crane par-ticipated in the conference and represent-ed the crop insurance industry. Material describing nursery insurance, AGR-Lite insurance, and the “Essential Strengths of Crop Insurance” was distributed to partic-ipants from an NCIS exhibit. Participation in this RINLA conference is a component of the Risk Management Education and

The inaugural meeting of the new Underwriting & Operations Committee.

Errors and Omission InsuranceFor Your Agency

Full lines of coverage including MPCI Crop Insurance

We will work diligently to offer you quotes with reputable companies at competitive prices

To obtain a quote for your agency call 1-800-769-6015

American Insurance Services, LLC.Premium financing is available

We have over 35 years experience in all lines of insurance

w w w. t o m s t a n l e y i n s u r a n c e . c o m

12 FEBRUARY2015

Outreach that NCIS is conducting for URI as part of the Targeted States Pro-gram funded by RMA. The purpose of the Targeted States Program is to deliver crop insurance education and information to U.S. agricultural producers in states where there is traditionally and continues to be a low level of Federal crop insurance partic-ipation and availability.

• National County Agent Personal Im-provement Conference: NCIS partici-pated in the 2014 National Association of County Agricultural Agents (NAACA) Professional Improvement Conference, in Mobile, Alabama on July 24. NCIS spon-sored a three-hour “Issues in Agricultural Economics Super Seminar” focused on providing extension educators with infor-mation that will strengthen their ability to help farmers and ranchers prepare for and manage risk. Dr. Laurence Crane re-viewed crop insurance changes in the 2014 Farm Bill and discussed using crop insur-ance as an effective tool to prepare for and economically survive crop failures due to

insurable causes of loss. More than 1,300 Extension professionals from across the country attended the four-day conference.

• Risk Management Education—South Carolina: NCIS partnered with Extension Educators at South Carolina State Uni-versity (SCSU) to teach risk management planning to limited resource and socially disadvantaged farmers in the StrikeForce counties of South Carolina. Funding for the project is from a competitive grant prepared by NCIS and selected by the Southern Risk Management Education Center (SRMEC), operated by the Univer-sity Of Arkansas Division Of Agriculture. The SRMEC is funded by USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) which was formerly CSREES.

NCIS Meetings, Conferences, Presentations and Sessions • 2014 NCIS National Claims Managers

Conference: More than 150 claims and compliance managers met to discuss the latest crop insurance loss adjustment and compliance changes at the 2014 Nation-al Claims Managers conference held in Overland Park, Kansas, January 22-23. NCIS provided a review of issues from 2013 and an update for the 2014 crop year

Members of the MPCIPPLA Committee touring a prune processing facility in California.

Working at times in partner-

ship with RMA and at times

by itself, NCIS conducts

seminars or develops tools

on risk management for

limited resource and social-

ly disadvantaged farmers

and others interested in

better managing risk.

CROPINSURANCE TODAY® 13

from a loss perspective. The conference included training materials on Crop-Hail and MPCI loss handbooks changes, Loss Adjustment Manual updates, prevented planting changes along with information on cover crop rules and regulations, ad-juster licensing, research results from 2013 and actuarial filings. Keith Collins spoke on the economic challenges going forward and Phillip Hayes spoke on “Fact or Fic-tion” within the crop insurance industry. A legal panel addressed issues pertaining to claim situations. Alvin Gilmore and Tim Hoffmann from RMA provided up-dates on compliance and product manage-ment issues.

• 2014 Crop Insurance Annual Conven-tion: The 2014 Crop Insurance Annual Convention, sponsored by AACI and NCIS, was held in Scottsdale, Arizona, February 9-12. The 525 registered attend-ees plus speakers and guests broke previ-ous attendance records. Speakers included Senate Ag Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI); Brandon Willis, RMA Admin-istrator; Dan Wrinn, Ducks Unlimited; Orion Samuelson, AgriBusiness Director WGN Radio Chicago; Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson. There was also an agrono-mist panel and a farm organization panel. Seven individuals from the crop insurance industry were presented with awards: Dan Carothers, Outstanding Service Award;

Chuck Lassey, Robert Parkerson, Kent Petersen, and Russell Slade, Industry Lifetime Achievement Award; and Kenny Shock and Tom Vetter, Industry Leader-ship Award.

• Crop Adjuster Proficiency Program (CAPP) Task Force Meets: On January 23 and 24, Approved Insurance Provid-er (AIP) volunteers and NCIS staff from the Training and Education Committee met to review and rework examination questions pertaining to the CAPP Basic Provisions and Loss Adjustment Manual (LAM) exam. The Training and Education Committee provided AIP technical expert volunteers to serve on the CAPP Exam Task Force.

The task force evaluated those questions

having low success rates. In addition, the committee evaluated the size, composi-tion, and topical weighting of the ques-tions. The NCIS Board of Directors in-structed that the CAPP exams be reviewed every 12-18 months.

• Regional/State Chairmen Training: The NCIS Regional/State committee structure is divided geographically into eighteen committee groups. Each committee con-ducts its annual meeting during the first quarter each year. Following these annu-al meetings, the chairmen meet to par-ticipate in a two-day training session to learn about NCIS functions and prepare them to run their committee meetings ef-ficiently and effectively. Training included discussion on anti-trust issues, NCIS by-laws, chairman responsibilities, new corn procedures for Crop-Hail, research proj-ects, recommendation write-ups, IMAP on the web, adjuster licensing, and media training. The chairman also discussed is-sues that would impact crop insurance in their regions in 2014.

• NCIS Standing Committee Meetings and Conference Calls: NCIS has seven active standing committees that focus on various topics and issues relating to MPCI and Crop-Hail. The committees meet in per-son one to two times each year and several hold either monthly or as-needed confer-ence calls. In 2014, the MPCI Underwrit-ing and Operations (U&O) Committee was formed and met for the first time in mid-April. The U&O Committee was cre-ated based upon a recommendation by the NCIS Board of Directors and whose purpose is to focus on program changes including policy issuance, underwriting, accounting, business and operations. The members of the committee are comprised of AIP representatives involved in the un-derwriting and operations within their re-spective company.

Other NCIS standing committees are: Training and Education, MPCI Policy, Procedure and Loss Adjustment, Crop-Hail Policy, Procedure and Loss Adjust-ment, Crop-Hail Actuarial and Statistics, Communications and Outreach and Tech-nology and Information Processing.

• NCIS Fall Train-the-Trainer Conference: More than 300 attendees participated in

Visitors from Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Company, LTD., visited NCIS to learn more about the U.S. crop insurance program.

The 2014 Crop Insur-

ance Annual Convention,

sponsored by AACI and

NCIS, was held in Scott-

sdale, Arizona, February

9-12. The 525 registered

attendees plus speakers

and guests broke previ-

ous attendance records.

14 FEBRUARY2015

the 2015 NCIS Train the Trainer Fall Con-ference was held in mid-July. This confer-ence focused on the newly released Farm Bill with presentations by both NCIS and RMA staff. Training material highlight-ed information on beginning farmer or rancher procedures, STAX (Stacked In-come Protection Plan), native sod, Farm Bill amendments, Whole-Farm Revenue Protection Policy, and correction of errors. Patrick Westhoff, University of Missouri Department of Ag and Applied Econom-ics, presented information on commodity programs and crop insurance pertaining to the Farm Bill.

• MPPPLA Committee Meets: Members of the MPCI Policy, Procedure and Loss Adjustment Committee met in Sacramen-to, California, to stay current with issues affecting California agriculture. Guest speakers included Dan Nelson, Execu-tive Director at San Luis and Delta-Men-dota Water Authority, who spoke on the drought and the water issues affecting Cal-ifornia agriculture; Jeff Yaussi, Director of the Davis Regional Office, who provided an update on the Davis Regional Office; and Michel Paggi, University of California Davis, who spoke on the diversity and fi-nancial impact that agriculture has in the

state of California. A tour of agriculture products grown in the state included a prune processing facility, processing to-matoes being harvested, pistachios being harvested, olive orchard and a vineyard.

NCIS Welcomes International Visitors

Throughout the year, NCIS has requests from international groups or companies who want to visit our office to learn more about crop insurance. Many countries around the world are working hard to begin a crop insur-ance program similar to what is offered in the United States. They are eager to learn all they can about how this program works for com-panies who sell it, how agents educate farmers and what farmers want from a risk manage-ment program. • Argentina Delegation Visits NCIS: Cre-

ating stronger international connections, NCIS was visited by a group of Agricul-tural Professionals from Argentina and Colombia in early March. Hosted by the University of Missouri, the group had the opportunity to visit because of the US-DA-sponsored Cochran Fellowship Pro-gram (CFP). The CFP provides short-term training opportunities to agricultural pro-fessionals from middle income countries,

emerging markets and emerging democ-racies. Their goal in visiting NCIS was to learn about general risk management policies and procedures and the role that NCIS plays in the crop insurance indus-try. Argentina is an area where corn and soybeans are grown, and Colombia grows coffee. Presenting on behalf of NCIS were Mike Sieben and Frank Schnapp.

• Tunisian, Algerian and South African Visitors: A delegation from Tunisia, Algeria, and South Africa visited NCIS in late September to learn about the crop in-surance industry. NCIS staff discussed the role of the private industry in delivering the Federal crop insurance program and the functions NCIS performs on behalf of the private Crop-Hail providers. Their session at NCIS was part of a two-week visit to the United States to learn about agricultural policy and resource man-agement, including risk management programs and tools to help farmers cope with uncertainty. Their trip was part of a Cochran Fellowship Program coordinated by The Norman E. Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture at Texas A&M University.

• Japanese Delegation Visits NCIS: Four representatives from Tokio Marine &

2014 SILA Convention.

CROPINSURANCE TODAY® 15

Hudson Crop. Smart covered.Toll Free: 866 450-1445www.hudsoncrop.com

©2015 Hudson Insurance Group. All rights reserved. Hudson Insurance Group is an equal opportunity provider.

Price-Flex® is a registered trademark of Watts & Associates, Inc., Billings, MT.

Price-Flex®

The smart way to piece together your revenue protection.

Protect

Revenue

Pennies a

Bushel

Lock in

Revenue

Missing a Piece?

Nichido Fire Insurance Company, LTD., from Japan visited the NCIS office on No-vember 19 to learn more about the selling and servicing of crop insurance policies to farmers. Van Ewart, a crop insurance

agent with Millard Management in Law-rence, Kansas, and Jamie Hageman, ProAg Insurance, also participated in this meet-ing as the visitors specifically requested to visit with a crop insurance agent and crop

insurance company. NCIS staffers Mike Sieben and Laurie Langstraat were also in attendance at the meeting.

State Insurance Department and Regulatory Activities • 2014 Spring NAIC Meeting: Frank

Schnapp and Mike Sieben attended the National Association of Insurance Com-missioners Spring Meeting held in Or-lando, Florida, to update the Crop Insur-ance Working Group on issues affecting the crop insurance industry. Information provided to the Commissioners included: MPCI and Crop-Hail premium and loss totals for 2013, Crop Adjuster Proficien-cy Program (CAPP) information includ-ing adjuster test participation numbers for 2013, additional states now accepting CAPP, 2014 Farm Bill implementation is-sues and working with RMA, and weather concerns across the United States for the 2014 crop year.

• Securities and Insurance Licensing (SILA) National Education Conference: Dean Strasser and Janet Straley attended the SILA National Education conference held in October. The conference draws participants from the insurance and secu-rities industries, regulators, professional associations, consulting firms and ven-dors. This conference provides a group ex-perience of navigating through insurance licensing and securities registration issues by collaboration, sharing of ideas, learning from one another, and discovering solu-tions using proper tools and resources.

Participation in Professional Societies and Other Conferences • SCC-76 Convention: Tom Zacharias and

Harun Bulut attended the SCC-76 con-vention, “Economics and Management of Risk in Agriculture and Natural Resourc-es,” held in Pensacola, Florida. Participants at this conference include top agricultural economists in the areas of risk and envi-ronmental management, including uni-versity researchers, USDA economists and administrators, private sector economists and graduate students. Formal research presentations are made as well as abstracts

Adjusters participate in hands-on field activities at the Cimarron Valley Research Station near Perkins, Oklahoma.

CROPINSURANCE TODAY® 17

18 NOVEMBER2014

of papers presented at this convention. Tom provided an industry overview and discussed current crop insurance issues.

• Women in Agriculture Educators Na-tional Conference: NCIS participated in the 2014 National Women In Ag Educa-tors Conference in Indianapolis, April. This conference was organized and spon-sored by the United States Department of Agriculture/National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA/NIFA) and the four extension regional risk management education centers and the Digital Center for Risk Management at the University of Minnesota. The conference highlighted many successful risk management edu-cation programs and the impacts these programs have on women producers and their families. This conference provided a professional development opportunity for educators to be more effective in de-livering risk management programming, including crop insurance education to women who often are the ones making the risk management decisions and choices on their farms.

• NCIS Participates at AAEA Meeting: Drs. Tom Zacharias, Keith Collins, Laurence Crane and Harun Bulut represented NCIS at the 2014 Annual Meeting of Agricul-tural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on July 27-29. Tom Zacharias participated in two sessions, entitled “Crop Insurance: Challenges and Opportunities Facing the Industry” and “Crop Insurance and Im-plementation of the Farm Bill.” The latter session was organized by Laurence Crane

and moderated by Keith Collins. Laurence Crane served as a panelist in a session ti-tled, “Effectively Working with Hard-to-Contact Limited Resource Agricultural Producers.” Harun Bulut moderated a ses-sion on “Risk Preferences,” where academ-ic papers were presented.

The AAEA is a forum for scholarly work in agricultural economics. More than 1,000 agricultural and applied economists routinely attend the annual AAEA meet-ing. Engaging academics in these meetings is essential to be part of the conversation on crop insurance and risk management related issues.

• NCIS Participates in Minnesota Crop In-surance Conference: Tom Zacharias pre-sented at the Minnesota Crop Insurance Conference, held in Mankato, Minnesota, September 10-11. More than 600 crop in-surance agents participated in this work-shop for crop insurance providers, one of the largest in the Midwest. Topics covered at the conference included the current crop insurance industry outlook, Farm Bill, farm income trends and productions costs, and the state of the agricultural economy.

• AAEA Symposium on Crop Insurance and the Farm Bill: NCIS co-sponsored and participated in the 2014 AAEA Sym-posium on “Crop Insurance and the Farm Bill: Implementing Change in U.S. Agri-cultural Policy” held in Louisville, Ken-tucky, October 8-9. This symposium is the fifth in a series of small and focused research, outreach, and teaching gather-ings that bring together colleagues from

throughout the United States and around the world who share an interest in crop insurance by understanding agricultural markets, risk management, and the policy impacts of alternative crop insurance pro-grams. Tom Zacharias spoke about indus-try perspectives on crop insurance in the 2014 Farm Bill.

• 2014 Crop Insurance Workshops: Laurie Langstraat discussed the “Positive Messag-es of the Crop Insurance Industry” at the 2014 Crop Insurance Workshops held No-vember 11-14 in Brush, Colorado; Grand Island, Nebraska; Salina, Kansas; and Enid, Oklahoma. Crop insurance agents, farmers and ranchers, and company staff, agricultural educators, and other risk management service providers gained in-formation to use in risk management de-cisions for their own operations or those of their customers. Much of the discus-sion this year revolved around programs or changes introduced through the 2014 Farm Bill and the decision tools available. Participants had the opportunity to earn insurance continuing education at each workshop location. The workshop series was sponsored by the University of Ne-braska-Lincoln, Kansas State University, Oklahoma State University and Colorado State University extension offices.

• Casualty Actuarial Society Annual Meet-ing: Frank Schnapp attended the Cen-tennial Celebration and Annual Meeting of the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) November 9-12 in New York City, along with more than 2,000 other actuaries. The meeting focused on the history of the

A few of the more than 80 adjusters at the 2014 Crop-Hail Corn, Soybean, Wheat and MPCI Forage School in South Dakota.

18 FEBRUARY2015

CAS and the challenges and opportuni-ties in the future resulting from the rapid expansion of the information economy. The program also offered an education-al program to enable attendees to satisfy CAS continuing education requirements. Topics on the agenda included Actuarial Standards of Practice, Credibility Meth-ods, Predictive Analytics, and Capital Al-location Methodology.

NCIS Adjuster Continuing Education

NCIS conducts summer training schools and field days as part of its continuing edu-cation mission for crop insurance adjusters. Below is just a sample of the dozen schools held in 2014. • MPCI and Crop Hail Canola, Corn and

Wheat School: Approximately 100 ad-justers attended the MPCI and Crop Hail Canola, Corn and Wheat School held in Stillwater, Oklahoma on May 20 and 21. This two-day school included a classroom session followed by field training held at the Cimarron Valley Research Station near Perkins, Oklahoma. Adjusters received training on MPCI and Crop-Hail apprais-al methods for canola and winter wheat, as well as a review of the new Crop-Hail corn loss instructions and MPCI procedures for corn with aflatoxin. Josh Bushong, Oklahoma State University Extension, gave a presentation on canola challenges that included information on the effects of drought and freeze and stand establish-ment practices. NCIS filed for continuing education hours with the Oklahoma State Insurance Department and approximately 40 attendee’s received credit for participat-ing in the school.

• South Dakota R/S Committee Hosts School: The 2014 NCIS Crop-Hail Corn, Soybean, Wheat and MPCI Forage School took place at the Southeast South Dakota Experiment Farm in Beresford, SD, July 15. Eighty participants reviewed Crop-Hail and MPCI loss adjustment proce-dures for the various crops using hands-on training by rotating throughout the vari-ous four crop field training areas.

• 2014 NCIS Crop-Hail and MPCI Apple School: The Crop-Hail and MPCI Apple school and field day was held in Yakima,

Washington July 29-30 with more than 60 participants. Topics covered during the classroom instruction included both Crop-Hail and MPCI apple procedures, USDA apple grading, and apple rootstocks and how they relate to APH. A panel of experienced industry fruit adjusters was available during the question and answer period. Attendees were able to complete both MPCI and Crop-Hail field exercises during the time spent at the Washington

Fruit and Produce Orchard. NCIS staff Dean Strasser led the group and NCIS intern Hannah Wiebelhaus and Janet Field-Straley also attended.

Other Activities • NCIS Research in Canada: Dr. Mark

Zarnstorff, NCIS Director of Agricultural Research and Technology, travelled to the University of Saskatchewan to visit with Dr. Steve Shirtliffe to begin checking on

A plot leader weighs apples at the NCIS apple school in Washington.

CROPINSURANCE TODAY® 19

the canola research project that pertains to bolting, branching and limb removal being conducted at the University. This re-search will determine the appropriate fac-tors for loss due to hail during this stage of development. The information obtained will be useful for the NCIS procedures for northern United States as well as Canada and was an approved research project for 2014.

• NCIS Website Wins Award: The NCIS website, Crop Insurance Keeps America Growing (www.CropInsuranceInAmerica.org) won a Gold Circle Award at the 2014 American Society of Association Execu-tives Marketing, Membership and Com-munications Conference in Washington, D.C. last week. The Gold Circle Awards represent the best of association market-ing, membership and communications and is open to all nonprofit organizations. The entries are reviewed by an indepen-dent panel of judges and evaluated based on a series of category-specific criteria. The website category is judged on creativi-ty, design/layout, ease of use, effectiveness and effective use of medium. Laurie Lang-straat, Vice President of Public Relations for NCIS, accepted the award on behalf of the organization.

• NCIS Visits Farmers in California: Sherri Scharff and Laurie Langstraat spent some time in California in April meeting with farmers impacted by the drought. Four farmers discussed how the drought is personally affecting them and their crops and why crop insurance is such an important risk management tool for them. The “real stories” are avail-able on the Crop Insurance Keeps Ameri-ca Growing website. Staff also visited the headquarter offices and regional offices of some member companies.

• National Ag Day: Laurie Langstraat at-tended the 2014 National Ag Day activi-ties in Washington D.C. in mid-March. National Ag Day is a day to recognize and celebrate the abundance provided by agriculture. Agri-Pulse Communica-tions sponsored a “Farm to Fork Politics” discussion with USDA Under Secretary Krysta Harden about Farm Bill implemen-tation and other USDA initiatives.

• NCIS Scholarship Recipients: Anissa Taylor and Lacinda Ruby Lugo are the 2014-15 recipients of NCIS scholarships for full-time undergraduate students ma-joring in an agricultural discipline at an 1890 Land-Grant University. Ms. Taylor attends Alabama A&M University in Nor-mal, Alabama and is majoring in Food Science. Ms. Lugo is a student at Fort Val-ley State University in Georgia and is in the Veterinary Technology program. Both are juniors at their respective universities and are outstanding students. The NCIS scholarships are designed to assist deserv-ing students during their final four under-graduate semesters.

• National Cotton Council Interview: Tom Zacharias was interviewed by the National Cotton Council for their regular weekly programming they provide to radio sta-tions in the Cotton Belt. Questions were geared specifically towards how crop in-surance has improved for cotton farmers through the 2014 Farm Bill, as well as how NCIS and its members gather and analyze data on cotton production, NCIS’ cotton research programs and trends in cotton risk management tools.

• 2014 National AFA Leaders Convention: NCIS staff members Laurie Langstraat, Dana Ford and Mike Sieben attended the 2014 Agriculture Future of American Leaders (AFA) Conference held Novem-ber 6-9, at the Crown Center in Kansas City, MO. AFA links college students to opportunities for career development in business, production, science and tech-nology. Each one of the 600 delegates was selected specifically based on their talent, passion and commitment to the agricul-tural industry. Laurie and Dana were part of the Opportunity Fair where students learn about internships and full-time em-ployment opportunities and Mike was a

presenter at the Track 1 program which is designed for the student to understand their talents, skills values and motiva-tions. Laurie also participated in a session where freshmen students asked questions on how they can improve their resumes. NCIS is one of the 75 sponsors for the AFA Conference.The industry and NCIS work diligently

to provide quality risk management tools for America’s farmers and ranchers. As you can see from just this brief list of activities (no, this isn’t everything!), NCIS was involved in many events, symposiums, meetings and training sessions on behalf of our members. We ensured company trainers understood as many details of the Farm Bill as possible and explained the importance of the U.S. crop in-surance industry to farmers, the general pub-lic, media and international guests. We held or attended dozens of meetings to discuss data mining, regional crop issues, state regulatory matters, Farm Bill changes, agricultural eco-nomics and other pertinent topics. And we did all of this while continuing our “day jobs” of membership support, loss adjuster schools, policy and procedure analysis, IT and pro-cessing support, loss cost filings and a myriad of other valuable services. It was a busy year for everyone and we enjoyed our involvement in these events knowing that we did our part to ensure the success of crop insurance. As we begin 2015, NCIS remains committed to par-ticipating in the activities that provide value to our members and the entire crop insurance industry.

Canola research plot at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada.

Richard Selover is a California farmer thankful for crop insurance in a year as dry as 2014.

20 FEBRUARY2015

At ADM Crop Risk Services, we’re constantly investing:in new, leading-edge technology to help you work:

faster and smarter, with innovations like:

• Enhanced, sharper mapping imagery, complete with full-screen interaction.

• Improved reporting functionality for.insurance schedules in two seconds flat.

• New touch-friendly, tile controls for a.more personalized, efficient experience.

And so much more.

At ADM CRS, we’re not just committed to technology. We’re committed to your bottom line.

To learn more about the benefi ts of working with. ADM CRS, visit admcrs.com today.

We’ve got. the edge on. technology.

And your bottom line.

The products and services described here are written by ADM Insurance Company (not licensed in AK, CA, CO, FL, HI, ID, MN, NH, NM, NY, RI, VT, WA or WY) Home Offi ces Princeton, NJ and reinsured to Agrinational Insurance Company. The insurance products described here are subject to availability and qualifi cations. Other terms, conditions and

exclusions may apply. Not all products are available in all states. This does not constitute an offer of any product in any jurisdiction.

ADM Crop Risk Services

888-5ADMCRS | www.admcrs.com© 2014 Archer Daniels Midland Company

ADM Crop Risk Services is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

adm004539 CRS Agent Ads.indd 2 1/9/14 1:53 PM

22 NOVEMBER2014

Have you ever wondered how crop loss adjustment procedures are developed? The answer is two-fold. Some crop loss adjustment procedures are legacies of the National Crop Insurance Association (NCIA), a predecessor organization to NCIS. These procedures, most based on research dating back to the early 1900s, were often the result of collaboration between private insurance companies and NCIA. Having been integrated into the “mod-ern” MPCI and Crop-Hail Loss Handbooks, these procedures have been used by adjusters for the last 30 years. Since the formation of NCIS, updates to the loss adjustment proce-dures have originated from the Agriculture Research program at NCIS. Our agriculture researchers are continually striving to define the impacts of crop damage to improve ad-justment procedures that more accurately reflect losses in an ever-changing agricultural landscape.

How the Research Program Works

The NCIS research program is led by Drs. Mark Zarnstorff and James Houx and, much like the historical program, focus-es on designing experiments that result in data used to create accurate, consistent and timely loss adjustment procedures. Ideas for research typically come from company field adjusters, claims supervisors, and university

researchers that do not think that current procedures accurately and consistently as-sess crop damage. In some cases, such as that of a new insurable crop, there may not be any adjustment procedure at all. And in others, such as changes in production practices, a new procedure may be neces-sary to account for changes in harvesting methods or equipment, or cultivation tech-niques that fundamentally alter how the crop is raised.

All research projects are discussed and approved by either the NCIS Crop-Hail or Multi-Peril Policy, Procedure and Loss Ad-justment Committees and are multi-year in duration and include multi-locations. Each year, approximately six new projects are ap-

proved for study. In 2015, NCIS researchers began four new projects to address canola pod filling, corn green snap, chickpea pod and seed numbers and cotton node removal and defoliation. When combined with ex-isting projects, NCIS will have 17 research projects ongoing across 13 states from Washington to South Carolina, and from Saskatchewan, Canada to New Mexico.

Most of the NCIS-sponsored research projects produce results that are incorporat-ed into the private Crop-Hail industry loss adjustment procedures. However, when ap-propriate, NCIS will share results with the USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) for possible incorporation into the Federal multi-peril crop insurance loss procedures.

NCIS’ Agricultural Research & Technology

Program90 Years Ensures Accurate Loss Procedures

By Drs. Mark Zarnstorff and James Houx, NCIS

CropInsurance TODAYVisitWebsite

ag-risk.org

Defoliation research on canola.

22 FEBRUARY2015

Independent ResearchIndependent research is vital to NCIS’

ability to obtain objective results that most accurately capture the effects of crop damage and allows for the development of proper loss adjustment procedures. The vast majority of research approved by the committees is con-tracted to Land-Grant University researchers. These researchers are experts in the physiol-ogy and production of specific agronomic crops. The expertise of the researchers rang-es from dryland pulse-crop, cereal grain and fiber production in the arid plains, potato production in the northern states to irrigated soybean, cotton, and corn in the humid mid-south and fruit, nut, and berry production in the Pacific Northwest. It is through this net-work of researchers that the NCIS Agricultur-al and Technology Research Program acquires the data for loss adjustment procedures.

Perhaps most importantly, these research-ers are state employees and are often exten-sion personnel with a mission to provide information to producers. Having these re-searchers conduct the experiments means that the research is unbiased and transparent. If an insured believes that the adjustment procedure is flawed, they can contact the re-searcher that conducted the experiments that led to the procedure. This allows the crop in-surance industry to maintain an arm’s length from the research that drives the adjustment of losses and helps eliminate the perception that an adjustment procedure is “stacked against” insureds. In turn, this research model further fosters the notion that the crop insur-ance industry is truly “acting in good faith” when adjusting losses.

The data gathered by these researchers is highly scrutinized by NCIS to ensure data entry accuracy and computational integrity. Statistical analyses are conducted by the agri-culture research staff using standard, accepted analysis procedures like analysis of variance, mixed model analyses, and regression and correlation modeling using common statis-tical analysis software packages. If statistical analysis is performed by the contracted re-searchers, the data sets are re-analyzed and ac-curacy verified by NCIS. The level of scrutiny applied to research data is congruent with the understanding that resulting adjustment pro-cedures must be defensible under testimony.

Adjusting a Moving TargetAdjusting crop loss is perhaps the most

unique procedure in the insurance industry. The difficulty of accurately determining cause and extent of loss on an asset that changes in value and responds to different perils across geographic regions and throughout the year is daunting. For this reason, adjusters need accurate and concise procedures to rely on for rapid claims adjusting. However, agriculture today is a moving target that has made tre-mendous advances in the past 30 years since many of the adjustment procedures were de-veloped. These advances include: 1) new ge-netic technologies and the rapid pace of crop breeding; 2) crops are now planted in regions where they had traditionally not been grown; 3) new production management practices and equipment; and 4) new crops are being devel-oped that were not considered on a commer-cial scale in the past.

Breeding and GeneticsBreeding and genetic technologies have

resulted in a rapid and expansive pipeline of new crop varieties and hybrids that are continually released to producers. The new varieties yield more than their counterparts did even a few years ago and are part of the reason that U.S. corn and soybean produc-tion has roughly tripled since 1982. The new technologies have helped increase average U.S. corn and soybean yields a whopping 60 and 70 percent, respectively, since 1984. Corn and soybean are not the only crops being af-fected; nearly every crop with a commercial value has been greatly improved in the past few decades.

So, what is behind these great advances? Today’s plants are growing faster, larger and fill grain for a longer period during the grow-ing season. They are being bred to tolerate stresses like heat, cold, drought, excess mois-

Dr. Sam Wang counting the number of nodes on cotton in Arizona.

CROPINSURANCE TODAY® 23

ture, salinity, low fertility and numerous other environmental pressures to a greater extent than their predecessors. Their resistance to insects and disease has also greatly improved, either by traditional breeding techniques or by the use of biotechnology.

With this in mind, it is not unrealistic to surmise that newer varieties and hybrids may respond differently to damage than old-er varieties, for which many of the current loss adjustment procedures were developed. NCIS has recently found this to be the case for indeterminate soybean and its response to node removal/break overs. In field exper-iments encompassing 19 site years across the major states where indeterminate soy-bean is grown, researchers found differences in how soybean responds to damage during vegetative growth. In early vegetative devel-opmental stages, soybean loss is not as great as originally adjusted for at damages over 40 percent node cut-offs. There were differenc-es in reproductive stages as well with node cut-offs during the R 3.5 developmental stage being up to 10 percent less than pre-viously thought. Further, until now, there was no data to support an adjustment pro-cedure for claims with node removal greater than 65 percent and these claims were au-tomatically deferred. Now, with this data, we were able to determine that losses from node cut-offs greater than 65 percent can be determined accurately and the cut-off chart was amended. Therefore, adjusters may not need to return to the field to finalize what was previously a deferred claim.

Potatoes are another crop that has seen a tremendous increase in the number of va-rieties and market classes available to con-sumers and producers in the past 10 to 15

years. The number of varieties may not be as expansive as that for commodity crops, but breeders are diligently working to improve potatoes for consumer qualities (chipping, frying, and baking) as well as improving production qualities (resistance to diseas-es and pests and improving overall growth characteristics). The emphasis on potato breeding over the past 10 years has result-ed in the development of early-, mid-, and late-maturing varieties for different regions and cropping systems. These different vari-eties and maturities appear to respond dif-ferently to damage, so NCIS is conducting research on the differing maturity groups to determine adjustment factors for each ma-turity type. NCIS has started to maintain the list of current varieties that are in commer-cial production and their maturity rating so that adjusters know which varieties are as-sociated with each maturity group and the correct adjustment factor can be applied. As of 2014, 268 varieties and their maturity groupings were updated.

Over the past decade, the dry bean indus-try has been greatly impacted by the develop-ment and adoption of indeterminate, upright dry bean cultivars that allow for combine harvesting. The development of these beans, which differ from the traditional bush-type determinate beans and vining indeterminate beans, left adjusters with questions as to which procedure and/or chart to use. NCIS initiated research on these types and determined that, even though the new upright beans more closely resemble the bush type beans, they are indeterminate in growth habit. As a result, the vining charts for indeterminate beans fit the response to simulated hail damage—not the upright, bush-type charts.

The breeding behind these advances is a mix of traditional breeding techniques com-bined with powerful analytical and statistical tools that increase the accuracy of selecting the desired genes and integrating them into the next generation of plants. However, the advent of transgenics—the integration of foreign DNA into plant DNA has resulted in the most rapidly adopted technology in U.S. agriculture history. These new plants—com-monly referred to as GMOs, impart herbi-cide and insect resistance to many crops thus simplifying production and lessening the impact of these environmental pressures on plant growth. This, in turn, allows for more vigorous plants that, in theory, may lead to a different response to damage than the old-er, conventional non-GMO varieties. NCIS conducted research looking at defoliation on transgenic corn and compared them with sis-ter varieties that did not have the added genes for corn rootworm and European corn borer control. The results from these trials showed that, when evaluated on a percent-loss basis, there was no difference in response to the de-foliation between the two types of corn.

New Growing RegionsAs mentioned earlier, corn and soybean

production has roughly tripled in the U.S. in the past 30 years or so. However, yields have improved 60 and 70 percent, respectively, so where has the rest of the production come from if not from yield alone? Most of this new production has come from new growing regions for crops. For instance, in 1980 there were 210,000 acres of soybean in North Da-kota and today, soybean is grown on over 5.9 million acres. Another example is canola in Oklahoma. In 2005, there was no measurable

Dr. Shaun Casteel showing the differences in height from defoliation at R1 stage on Indiana soybeans.

24 FEBRUARY2015

If It’s Heartland Crop Insurance, Inc., Have the peace of mind knowing your company is . . .?

Heartland Crop Insurance, Inc.

For information visit www.HeartlandCropInsurance.com

Heartland Crop Insurance, Inc. is an equal opportunity provider.1 - 8 8 8 - 7 8 9 - 5 5 6 6

Gain the Advantage a member of the Everest Re Group, Ltd.

n Leading the way in technology and agriculture mappingn Founded on providing superior servicen Proven to be there when it countsn Supported by the strength and stability of the Everest Re Group—Rated A+XV A.M. Best

An IMPORTANT Question!Who Stands Behind Your Crop Insurance Protection?

canola production in Oklahoma, but in 2014 there were 280,000 acres of canola planted. Researchers in the state expect this acreage to rapidly increase into the millions over the next few years.

These “new” North Dakota acres represent the extreme northern and western latitudes for soybean production—an environment that differs substantially from historical grow-ing regions such as Illinois and Indiana. And for canola, the expanding acres in Oklahoma represent a southern extreme of what is typi-cally considered for canola and production is very different from that in the main regions

of Canada or North Dakota and Minneso-ta. There are different perils and causes of damage, and the response to damage may be different In Oklahoma, canola exhibits differ-ent growth characteristics, the field season is longer, and timing of the growth and repro-duction is also different. Do crops respond differently to the same damage or stresses in each region? Some do, some don’t; some will, some won’t.

With this understanding, NCIS is actively involved in research of different crops in new growing regions such as that for soybean in North Dakota and canola in Oklahoma. Re-

search trials conducted by NCIS are designed to encompass this regional variation to deter-mine if there are differences in response to damage. For applicable crops, research trials typically are conducted across three to five re-gionally distinct locations and are multi-year to reflect a greater portion of typical weather conditions. Ideally there would be no differ-ences and the adjustment procedure would be the same for all regions. However, if differenc-es exist, they need to be known and the effect on adjustment procedures needs to be under-stood. These are just two examples of crops being planted outside their historical growing zones. As time passes, producers willing to try new “things” will always be expanding the growing regions of existing crops.

New Management PracticesNot all yield increases are the result of ge-

netic improvements and breeding technolo-gies. In the case of soybean, experts surmise that nearly one-third of the yield increase since the 1970’s has resulted from changes in production practices. One practice touted by extension and the seed industry, and becom-ing widely adopted, is earlier planting dates.

Corn defoliation research for second losses.

26 FEBRUARY2015

Earlier planting dates typically coincide with cooler and wetter conditions in most regions, but when things go as planned crops may en-joy a longer growing season, and the repro-ductive phase of development commences earlier in the summer when growing condi-tions are more favorable. Although there are regional differences, May 15 is considered as a benchmark as the date at which all soybean should be planted—after this date, yield loss-es are expected. However, replants after May 15 were common this past year, prompting NCIS to re-evaluate losses associated with late replants. Many university researchers are or have recently conducted planting date trials with newer genetics. The latest studies indi-cated that soybean yields compensate better than previously thought when planted late. As a result, NCIS has updated losses in the soybean replant date tables that reflect lower losses at later replant dates.

Modern cotton production is an example of the interaction between plant genetics and the adoption of new management practices. The development of new higher yielding va-rieties has come about mainly through the potential of producing more branches/limbs that bear cotton. The adoption of new irri-gation strategies, such as subsurface drip ir-rigation, when coupled with the newer high yield potential varieties has resulted in much greater yields. The main plant response has

been to put on more cotton-bearing limbs per plant – more than what our current proce-dures would say could be possible. We have conducted research to determine the number of limbs and their influence on the produc-tion potential of the plant so that industry loss procedures are accurate.

New CropsCorn and its’ ancestors have been grown

in North America since humans began to walk here so it is easy to see why corn is grown on so many acres in the United States today. However, it is hard to believe that the pre-dominant oilseed, soybean, has been planted in the U.S. for only 80 or so years. And, even harder to believe is that the U.S. is now the leading soybean producer in the world. While soybean is not new, some soybean varieties used for specialty purposes are new. Take for instance tofu, natto, and edamame soybean. These “food” type soybeans are different and new to the U.S. production pipeline. They require different production practices, and in some cases may respond to damage differ-ently than the standard oilseed soybean. Pro-ducers and researchers think so, and that has prompted NCIS to initiate research.

Chickpeas and lentils are another exam-ple of what can be considered a “new” crop. The production of these has dramatically in-creased in recent years. However, there are no adjustment procedures designed around

these crops. They are adjusted with the other dry edible beans or peas, but they grow dif-ferently and this may have an effect on how they recover from damage. NCIS is initiating research on these crops to determine if new procedures are warranted.

Bioenergy crops are also “new,” and for the first time, there are actually some end-mar-kets that have justified production on a larg-er scale than ever before. The use of crops for renewable energy has created value and spurned interest in relatively unknown plants that, in many cases, have not been grown in the U.S. Will these become major crops in the future? Only time will tell, but if so, insurance coverage will likely accompany their produc-tion as the model for their development and use suggests that production contracts will be necessary to ensure supply.

Similar to new production practices, U.S. producers will always try to grow new crops to improve the production from their land. As such, new crops will consistently emerge over time. Some will be adopted and perhaps be-come as widely grown as soybean and corn—who knows. Others will fall to the wayside as demand wanes, or production proves too dif-ficult or not economical.

Looking ForwardToday’s crops are more vigorous, more

productive, grow faster, and often grow larger than their predecessors. Behind these advanc-es are dynamic physiological events that affect how these crops cope with stress, damage, and general environmental conditions—and of course, improve yield. All of which could af-fect adjustment procedures and claims. Most of the research conducted by NCIS indicated that suggestions for on-going research proj-ects that come from field adjusters have been warranted. Going forward, agriculture will continue to change due to the aforementioned reasons as well as new, unforeseen advances that will surely follow.

Both the insured and insurance provider benefit from accuracy because even a five or ten percent error in adjustment can result in millions of dollars in overpayments or under-payments to insureds. The only way to ensure this does not occur is by maintaining a sci-entific research program that strives for accu-rate, unbiased data collection and adjustment procedures that are fair to farmers and insur-ance companies alike.

Researcher Dr. Sam Wang showing cotton research in Arizona.

CROPINSURANCE TODAY® 27

28 NOVEMBER2014

While he has been a crop

adjuster for just six years,

Art has been a farmer his

whole life.

CropInsurance TODAY

People hear a lot about crop insurance and the fact that U.S. farmers spend $4 bil-lion out of their own pockets to purchase it every year. One of the greatest praises of our modern crop insurance system is the custom-er service farmers receive before they have a loss, but perhaps more importantly the ser-vice after. For some farmers, the hours after a major farm disaster can seem like the lowest point in their lives, when their careers seem to be upended and their hopes for a big harvest dashed.

But quickly after a major loss occurs, crop insurance adjusters are on the scene to meet with the farmers and assess the damage. Crop insurance adjusters are one of the unsung heroes of the farm safety net, since they help ensure that when disaster strikes, help in the form of a crop insurance indemnity check is on the way.

Before ever climbing in the truck, crop adjusters are already on the phone making business calls, watching the weather forecast, reading the rain gauge and checking in with their clients. They spend long days in the office and even longer days out on the road. Right beside the farmer as they walk through their fields, these men and women are at the very heart of why crop insurance is successful.

Art Wiebelhaus is one person in particular who exemplifies just what it takes to be a crop adjuster. He recognizes the commitment crop production takes, the need crop insurance fulfills, and the lifestyle agriculture holds. From his understandings, Art utilizes a dy-namic relationship between crop insurance, farming, community, and family.

While he has been a crop adjuster for just six years, Art has been a farmer his whole life.

As a third generation farmer, “I know what they are going through and what their wor-ries are. I’m a farmer too,” commiserates Art. Imagine waking up one day to your life’s work destroyed by events beyond your control, pro-ducers must carry around this possibility (and lump in their throat) every day. It is an adjust-er’s job to provide farmers with the aid they seek from crop insurance.

As producers dread the day when they must make a claim, Art is still able to make light of the situation. He laughs, “It seems that when it rains, it just keeps raining, and when it’s dry, it just stays dry.”

Growing up on the same place he now farms, Art has seen crop insurance grow around his own sleepy little town of Fordyce, Nebraska, “A while back I remember meeting

one gentleman who didn’t have crop insur-ance, and that’s because there wasn’t a pol-icy that really worked for his operation. Of course now, with improvements and changes to crop insurance, he has coverage. Today, I can’t name one person who doesn’t have crop insurance.”

“With current prices, farmers need to have crop insurance to stay in business,” points out Art. The loss of just one year can be so cata-strophic that an operation cannot financially come back from it. Keeping a farmer’s “head above water” means another year that he is able to meet the demands of food production.

This is where the importance of an adjust-er comes into play. They make the loss calcu-lations for every insured field based upon sci-entific procedures. From these adjustments, it is determined how crop insurance policies can pay. Creating a tie to the producer, adjust-ers work with their clients to provide assess-ments that will have a positive impact on the operation’s future.

Along with this, crop adjusters must be conscientious of their actions in order for this process to be successful. For the best results

CROP INSURANCE IN ACTION:

Art Wiebelhaus, Fordyce, Nebraska

28 FEBRUARY2015

Myron Kenneth “Mike” Felt passed away on November 19, 2014. He was born in Wakefield, Nebraska, on Aug. 20, 1928, to Anna Froid Felt and Arthur Felt. He was the youngest in a family of four sons brought up at home in a Christian environment. Raised on a farm, Mike learned from the time he could walk how to work hard. He lived in Nebraska, attended Wakefield High School, and then enlisted and proudly served in the Marine Corps.

Mike moved to Great Falls in the early 1950s, while working for the Home Insurance Company. He was introduced to the love of his life, Patty Lou Christensen, in 1955, by her father, a competitor of Mike’s in the insurance industry. When Mike finally got his courage up to ask Patty out, they never looked back.

Mike and Patty had two beloved children, Stephen Mathew and Nancy Ann, both born in Great Falls. Mike started Crop Hail Man-agement and built it into the largest crop insurance managing general agency in the United States. In the early ‘80s Mike created National Flood. One of Mike’s most notable achievements was to help garner Congres-sional support for the passage of the Federal Crop Insurance Act of 1980. He led the for-mation of the American Association of Crop Insurers and served as its first chairman for several years.

While living in Great Falls, Mike and Pat-ty discovered Flathead Lake and the village of Bigfork. In 1963, they purchased a house on the East Shore and the dream began. After spending their summers on the lake, they de-cided to make it their full-time home in 1968. Mike always had the spirit of an entrepreneur and as he drove through the farms on Holt Drive, he envisioned a golf course there. And so, in 1979, he took the first steps to achieving that dream and purchased the land that would later become the first nine holes of Eagle Bend Golf Course. He and Patty taught their chil-dren generosity by often participating and contributing to the community of Bigfork. Mike had a sharp business acumen and served

on many local and national boards.He was a leader in the community, a men-

tor to many and known for his giant, healing hugs. Mike and Patty were active members of the Bethany Lutheran Church in Bigfork. He loved the lake, hiking and Glacier Park. Mike enjoyed skiing until the year he and Patty both broke their legs on King’s Hill. Of course, he was known as a golfer, famous for his hole-in-one that cost him five shots. Besides being an avid fan, he was an armchair offensive co-ordinator for the San Francisco 49ers.

Mike adored his children, but his grand-children filled his life with joy. He made cer-tain they all knew he loved them, and how important each one was to him. All of Mike’s children and grandchildren attended Bigfork High School. His family has created a Schol-arship Fund in his memory.

Mike is survived by his beloved wife, Patty Lou; his daughter Nancy Felt Mahlum, son-in-law Doug Mahlum, grandsons, Bridger Loyd and Colter Paul; his son Stephen Felt, daughter-in-law Jana Felt, granddaughters Sadie Lou and Hadley Kay, grandson Michael Levi Felt, Levi’s mother, Mary Felt Rever-comb; and his nieces and nephews to whom he was a hero. In addition, he leaves behind many, many friends who will miss him dearly.

A memorial service was held on Decem-ber 5, 2014. Contributions to the MK Felt Scholarship Fund can be sent to Rocky Moun-tain Bank, P.O. Box 1440, Bigfork, MT 59911, or contact Nancy Felt Mahlum at nancymah-lum@yahoo.com.

In Memory Mike Felt

CropInsurance TODAYArt says, “Every time I visit a field, I have two goals in mind: make the most accu-rate adjustment; and make sure the farmer feels that he can rely on my judgment.”

To reach this goal, “It’s very important that you clearly explain the procedures and how you came up with the loss ad-justment total,” describes Art. Presenting these steps provides the farmer with an understanding as to how the loss was de-termined. Art’s appreciation for the pro-ducer is repaid with equal gratitude when he takes the extra time to help his clients.

From each visit, Art is one-step closer to a stronger relationship with the farmer. This is important to Art, because it is the reason he started adjusting in the first place.

“I always enjoyed visiting with my crop adjuster when he came out to my farm. He kept bringing up how he thought I would make a great adjuster,” tells Art, “I knew how much he had helped my farm oper-ation, and I wanted to be able to do the same for others. I finally made the call and have loved my job ever since.”

It is not uncommon to find an adjuster like Art—one who has a passion for help-ing his community. But what is exception-al about him is, despite the fact that he must cover at least three different states at a time, being able to serve and contribute to agriculture is all Art asks for in return.

“Just like any job, there are trying times. But overall I enjoy my job, because I know that I am able to help the farmer,” explains Art.

Adjusters are the face of crop insur-ance, and make a direct impact on the perception of the industry. Besides their agent, a client will spend most of their time working with an adjuster when un-fortunate weather strikes. It is important to remember, “This is not only a business, but a livelihood. They [farmers] need to be reassured that they won’t lose what is very close and personal to them,” notes Art. How an adjuster interacts with a client will not go unnoticed or forgotten and that’s a crucial point as to why crop insurance will always need adjusters like Art.

From developing a dedicated relation-ship, to mentoring farmers about proce-dures, Art brings a positive impact on crop insurance every day.

30 FEBRUARY2015

Irl Oaks passed away in Sun City, Ariz., on October 4, 2014, due to pneumonia compli-cations. Irl Elahue Oaks, Jr., born in Menlo, South Dakota, on August 8, 1933, and was as unusual as his name. Although he suffered from chronic pain (post herpetic neuralgia from shingles) for the last years of his life, he never lost his corny sense of humor, his big heart or his philosophical soul.

Irl served in the active Navy and received full retirement through the Navy Reserves. He completed his Bachelor’s degree at Yankton College, Yankton, S. Dak., and later earned his master’s from the University of South Da-kota. He worked in the Alcestor, Lennox and Vermillion, S. Dak., school systems. He was a teacher, coach, principle and remained a life-time mentor for many of his students. He was a referee for high school and college football, basketball and baseball games. He also hap-

pened to pick up a job as a crop-hail adjuster to fill in the time that he was not playing golf.

In 1979 Irl left South Dakota to take a full-time job with Continental Insurance Company in Overland Park, Kans., where he eventually became head of the Crop Insur-ance Division. During his tenure, Continen-

tal became the second largest crop insurer in the U.S. Irl was active in all industry organi-zations, serving on many committees and boards, including chairman of the National Crop Insurance Services (NCIS) Board of Directors in 1993-94. He was especially dili-gent in planning and participating in any golf tournaments or games he could scratch up. He remained a golf enthusiast and continued to play until his body gave out.

Irl always looked for, and nurtured, the unique qualities he found in all people. Irl is survived by his wife Barb, who became his loving caregiver at the end of his life. He was always there for his children, Cindy (Dave) Schuler, Liz (Paul) Pfifer, Kathy (Mike) De-napoli, and yet another Irl, Irl Andrew (Andy) Oaks (Laura). He was an inspiration-al and thoughtful grandfather to eleven, and great-grandfather to five.

In Memory Irl Oaks, Jr.

CropInsurance TODAY

CROPINSURANCE TODAY® 31

With several E&O insurers leaving the market, crop agents are struggling to find professional liability coverage.

Rockwood Programs can help you with comprehensive, affordable Errors and Omissions coverage that provides:• Fast track processing • Competitive rates• Wide array of liability limit options and deductibles• Multiple payment options • Identity Theft coverage at no additional cost• Underwriters at Lloyds with an “A” rating from A.M. Best

Visit www.rockwoodinsurance.com/crop to find out more and download “What Crop Agents Need to Know About E&O Coverage.” Or, call toll free at 877-764-4555 to speak directly to one of our knowledgeable underwriters.

Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Company of Iowa is an equal opportunity provider and prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities. © 2015 Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Company of Iowa. All rights reserved.

Information when you need it, where you need it. • FMH Mobile A free mobile app that includes real-time market prices, local cash

bids, and industry news. Download it now from Google Play and the App Store.

• FMH.com/farmbill Understand how the new Farm Bill affects crop insurance and policyholders with an easy 3 step guide.

C O M P L E T E FA R M I N S U R A N C E S O L U T I O N S

Visit us online at FMH.com

Continued from page 1

pay a portion of the premium, contributing more than $4.3 billion in 2014 alone. Taxpay-ers help discount premiums, making crop in-surance affordable and widely available across the country. Second, insurance providers and taxpayers share in the risk exposure. Risk sharing between the public and private sec-tor has ultimately led to the elimination of ad hoc disaster legislation saving taxpayer dollars over the long haul. Lastly, a farmer only re-ceives a crop insurance payment in the event of a documented claim and only after their deductible has been met. As Senator Staben-ow has said several times, “…the farmer re-ceives a bill, not a check.”

The road to finalizing the 2014 Farm Bill was long and would not have been possible without the tireless work of Congressional leaders from the Senate and House Agricul-ture Committees who refused to take no for an answer. Agriculture associations and the farmers they represent worked hard to make sure Congress knew crop insurance was a top priority and the USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) and crop insurance industry representatives provided support and feed-back on proposals to ensure that the best safe-ty net possible was available for farmers and ranchers.

While beginning the process of imple-menting the various Farm Bill provisions this past year, the crop insurance industry was simultaneously still performing its “day job” of servicing more than one million policies, which account for more than $100 billion in liability and insurance coverage on approx-imately 290 million acres. (Sounds like a lot to me!) It is this core program, anchored on individual coverage and private-sector deliv-ery, which is the foundation of the 2014 Farm Bill. As such, it is important to remain ever vigilant to preserve and strengthen the core program. Last year in this publication, we emphasized that crop insurance must remain both available and affordable to our nation’s farmers and ranchers. We also stressed that economic viability of the private sector de-livery system is key to maintaining the farm safety net for the future.

The Work AheadGranted we have made a great deal of

progress in building the crop insurance in-

dustry we know today. There is more hard work ahead and here are only a few of the challenges awaiting us in 2015.

The Federal Budget OutlookThe Administration’s 2016 budget will

most likely not be approved or implemented as proposed, but it does send a signal of pri-orities within the Executive Branch, and of-ten serves as a template for budgetary offsets in legislative proposals. For the past several years, the Administration’s budget has called for substantial reductions in funding for crop insurance. Last year’s budget proposal called for major reductions across the board. Reduc-tions were proposed in funding for farmer premium discounts. Such reductions would lead directly to less affordable premiums and possibly reduced crop insurance participa-tion. Reductions in funding to the delivery system were also proposed. These reduc-tions were proposed coming on the heels of the 2012 drought and sub-par underwriting results in 2013. In the December 2014 issue of TODAY®, we stressed that future econom-ic viability was a key concern within our in-dustry. Although financial results for 2014 are yet unknown, returns would appear to be an improvement over 2012 and 2013 results. Financial performance has fallen well short of agreed-upon returns targeted in the 2011 Standard Reinsurance Agreement. There has been some industry consolidation and re-alignment in response to recent economic performance. Further proposed reductions in funding for the delivery system could contin-ue to cloud the economic outlook.

Agency Discretionary ActionsDuring the course of a discussion with an

industry leader some time ago it was observed that RMA determines the price of the prod-uct, via the premium rate setting process, and in turn through regulatory and procedural requirements, also determines much of the industry’s cost structure. This observation has profound implications for our industry.

RMA Actuarial ProcessesMost in industry believe that the RMA

establishment of actuarial premiums deter-mines the revenue generated through the risk-sharing provisions of the Standard Rein-surance Agreement (SRA). Let’s take it to its logical extreme; if RMA were to determine

that the actuarially fair premium is zero, what would be the resulting revenue derived from risk-sharing? Point being, premium setting determines company revenue and returns.

In the fall of 2014, RMA released the results of an external review of the deter-mination of price volatility factors used in premium setting for revenue coverages. Sub-sequently, RMA solicited comments from the public on the review. An assessment of these comments is still underway. More recently, the Approved Production History Yield Ex-clusion provision in the 2014 Farm Bill has been introduced requiring modifications to the current actuarial methodology. These two components of RMA’s actuarial process will likely be major determinants of the expected premium, and thus, industry revenue in the coming years.

Given the degree of risk insured and the role of crop insurance in the farm safety net, it is important that the actuarial processes utilized in crop insurance be well understood and as transparent as possible. Not only are publicly traded companies sharing risk in crop insurance, taxpayers dollars are at risk as well. Notwithstanding RMA’s autonomy in the establishment of fair premiums for farmers, stakeholders in crop insurance will demand more information regarding the nature and magnitude of the risks involved, particularly in light of changes in the nature of agricultural risks, either as the result of the climate or changes in agricultural technology.

Calls for Further Reform? (“It’s the Same ‘Ol Wine (Whine) in a

Brand New Bottle”) As we were closing out 2014, there was a rash of “late-to-the-party” calls for further reform of the crop insurance program. In these calls for reform were em-bedded some of the same year-in, year-out criticisms we have heard before.

“Who are those guys?”(A great line from “Butch Cassidy and the

Sundance Kid”) The calls for reform appear to emanate from a few academics supported by institutional think-tanks who are both finan-cially and politically motivated to criticize. Let’s not be confused, there is a difference be-tween academic freedom, scholarly academic research, and “paid-for professional advoca-cy.” Regardless of your political persuasion, President Obama got it right when he labeled

CROPINSURANCE TODAY® 33

the paid-for advocates as “…professional ac-tivists who profit from conflict.”

Unfortunately, opponents of farm policy seem to be in a better position to garner clever headlines and media attention than the hard-working men and women in agriculture who put food on our tables, fuel in our tanks and clothes on our backs.

A yet greater tragedy is that it is easier for these individuals to get press coverage when they are not held accountable for sensational-ist claims and unsubstantiated data.

Two recent examples from late 2014 come to mind. First, a recent series of “white pa-pers” from the Land Stewardship Project (LSP) made several negative claims about crop insurance. If one carefully, or even ca-sually, parses through the LSP series there is no real analysis or evidence presented, simply a diatribe of unsubstantiated misrepresenta-tions about crop insurance and the new Farm Bill. Similarly, there is the op-ed of Messrs. Babcock and Smith in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that ran on Christmas Eve. The open-ing sentence about crop insurance costs con-tains an $80 billion a year estimate that was challenged in several unpublished letters-to-the editor sent to the WSJ in response. As they say in parts of South Texas, where I grew up, “…that ain’t right...”

Fortunately, I do believe crop insurance and agricultural risk management get a pret-ty fair shake in the Ag press. However, it is important and remains critical for our in-dustry to educate the public-at-large about the importance of U.S. agriculture and the facts surrounding crop insurance particularly when misrepresentations and unsubstantiat-ed claims about crop insurance surface in the public arena. To this end, NCIS has recently finished updating the “Just the Facts” section on the Crop Insurance in America website (www.CropInsuranceInAmerica.org). “Just the Facts” answers several questions about how crop insurance actually works, how the financial parameters of the program work for the Federal government and participating private-sector insurance companies, and how crop insurance was improved through the 2014 Farm Bill.

ConclusionNo doubt, a great deal of effort has trans-

pired since last year at this time. However, the ultimate outcomes from this effort are un-

known. We will probably not know how the Farm Bill plays out for several more years to come, or the impact of budget attacks like-ly to surface in 2015 and beyond. As events unfold, industry must continue to be ever watchful and work together and work with other program stakeholders. How is this to be achieved?

Starting at home base and looking into the mirror, NCIS through its Standing Com-mittee structure is a place to start. Currently, all federally approved insurance providers are NCIS members, and are represented on virtually every major functional Standing Committee ranging from Loss Adjustment and Procedural development, to Data and Information processing to Actuarial Develop-ment and Analysis of crop insurance issues. These Committees composed of industry subject matter experts have worked diligently throughout 2014. For 2015 to be successful, these efforts must be maintained.

Industry must continue to work with RMA. The essence of the public-private part-nership is the relationship between industry and RMA. There are some inherent tensions as RMA serves multiple roles, being both a regulator of the companies and active in pro-gram development. From an industry per-spective, the business focus must somehow be tempered with USDA’s agricultural policy ob-jectives. The Conservation Compliance and Beginning Farmer and Rancher provisions in the Farm Bill are examples. Crop insurance has come a long way, and effective commu-nications between RMA and the industry can only help foster success in the future.

Industry must continue its educational and outreach efforts. It becomes painfully obvious from reading the popular press that both the financial stability of agriculture and the need to maintain a viable farm safety net are not well understood. Crop insurance trade groups, both company and agent, need to work together so our messages of success-ful private-sector delivery are cohesive and consistent.

While players within the crop insurance industry are fierce competitors in the market-place and may not be in perfect alliance on all nuanced issues, all segments must come together to promote areas of commonality. For example, we all agree that our customers take top priority and deserve the best most efficient service, which requires constant in-

vestments in the delivery infrastructure and training. We all agree that being good stew-ards of taxpayer dollars is paramount and must be promoted by preventing the need for costly ad hoc disaster assistance, by defend-ing actuarial soundness and by continually stamping out waste, fraud and abuse. Finally, we all agree that private-sector delivery un-derpins today’s effective and efficient system and must be protected.

Restating the title of this column, crop in-surance remains a “Work in Progress.” Quite frankly, for those who have been in industry for much of their careers (including yours truly), this has always been the case. The in-dustry has grown and exceeded most expec-tations beyond any reasonable set of metrics. I remain confident that we will continue to improve crop insurance for the betterment of the farmers and ranchers we serve.

As we look at the challenges and oppor-tunities facing the crop insurance industry in 2015, the staff of NCIS will continue to work diligently to provide the best possible service to our members. The TODAY® maga-zine has regularly offered articles that explain what some of our services are and why they are important. One of these is the agronom-ic research studies NCIS and its predecessor organizations have been involved in since the mid-1920s. While we have provided research results and how they have been incorporated into industry loss procedures, we’ve never re-ally said why this is an important endeavor for the industry. In the article NCIS’ Agricultural Research and Technology Program 90 Years of Research Ensures Accurate Loss Procedures, staff agronomists Drs. Mark Zarnstorff and James Houx explain how a crop research program is implemented, how the data from the studies are verified and how industry loss procedures are updated or verified once the study is completed. This issue also contains a valuable tool for agents and companies in the Insurable Crops, Location and Plans chart that shows what insurance products are available on which crops in which states. It contains more information this year due to the expanded coverages from the 2014 Farm Bill and is a quick, handy reference if you just want to know if a crop is insurable in your state. We hope you enjoy all of the features of this February magazine, which also includes an article about the new Whole Farm Reve-nue Program.

34 FEBRUARY2015

800.776.4046 | www.RainHail.comCall and partner with us today.

This institution is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

YOUR TRUSTED SOURCE FOR CROP INSURANCE

RAIN AND HAIL

ACE USA Companies - A.M. Best Rating A++ (Superior)

Crop insurance is our core business. Our history, focus, and commitment to the business for more than 90 years provides the reliability, expertise, and trust you can depend on.

Rain and Hail has the financial strength and resources you can depend on to best service your customers’ policies.

Our experience, focus, and innovation keeps our support and tools evolving so we can provide the service you and your customers can rely on.

36 FEBRUARY2015

National Crop Insurance Services

Visit our websitewww.cropinsuranceinamerica.org

Let us know what you think by sending us a comment on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/cropinsuranceinamerica.

w w w. c r o p i n s u r a n c e i n a m e r i c a . o r g

01 = YP-Yield Protection02 = RP-Revenue Protection03 = RPHPE-Revenue Prot with Harvest Price Exclusion04 = AYP-Area Yield Protection05 = ARP-Area Revenue Protection06 = ARP-HPE-Area Revenue Protection–Harvest Price Exclusion13 = RI-Rainfall Index14 = VI-Vegetation Index31 = SCO-YP-Supp Cov Opt–Yield Prot32 = SCO-RP-Supp Cov Opt–Rev Prot33 = SCO-RPHPE-Supp Cov Opt–Rev Prot with Harv Price Excl35 = STAX-RP-Stacked Inc Prot Plan–Rev Prot36 = STAX-RPHPE-Stacked Inc Prot Plan–Rev Prot w Harv Price Excl40 = TDO-Tree Based Dollar Amount Of Insurance41 = PRV-Pecan Revenue43 = AQDOL-Aquaculture Dollar47 = ARH-Actual Revenue History50 = DO-Dollar Amount Of Insurance51 = FD-Fixed Dollar55 = YDO-Yield Based Dollar Amount Of Insurance76 = WFRP-Whole Farm Revenue Protection81 = LRP-Livestock Risk Protection82 = LGM-Livestock Gross Margin90 = APH-Actual Production History

Pilot Option Rate ProgramsCP = Contract PricingCV = Comprehensive Tree ValueQE = Quarantine EndorsementPY = Personal T YieldNS = Stage RemovalPO = Price Endorsement Option

Insurable Crops Location & Plans

CropInsurance TODAY

VisitWebsiteag-risk.org

The following pages contain a list of all federally subsidized insurable crops, what states they are insurable in, under what plan(s) of insurance, and the number of counties where they are insurable. Please note this information is current as of December 19, 2014. Changes are constantly occurring in the crop insurance program and you should contact your crop insurance agent for the most up-to-date information.

The numbers in the matrix refer to specific insurances plans by the plan number as identified by the Risk Management Agency (RMA). A number containing a dash indicates that the crop is not insurable in every county in the state. The number following the dash represents the number of counties in that state the crop is insurable under the plan of insurance indicated by the number before the dash. For example, the code 01-16 means that specific crop is insurable under the Yield Protection (YP) plan of insur-ance in sixteen counties in the state. If the number does not con-tain a dash, it is insurable in every county in the state. A number including (P) indicates a pilot program.

CROPINSURANCE TODAY® 37

ST

AT

EA

lab

ama

Ala

ska

Ari

zona

Ark

ansa

sC

alifo

rnia

Co

lora

do

Co

nnec

ticu

tD

elaw

are

Flo

rid

aG

eorg

iaH

awai

iId

aho

Illin

ois

Ind

iana

Iow

aK

ansa

sK

entu

cky

Loui

sian

aM

aine

Mar

ylan

dM

assa

chus

etts

Mic

higa

nM

inne

sota

Mis

siss

ipp

iM

isso

uri

Mo

ntan

aN

ebra

ska

Nev

ada

New

Ham

psh

ire

New

Jer

sey

New

Mex

ico

New

Yo

rkN

ort

h C

aro

lina

No

rth

Dak

ota

Ohi

oO

klah

om

aO

rego

nP

enns

ylva

nia

Rho

de

Isla

ndS

out

h C

aro

lina

So

uth

Dak

ota

Ten

ness

eeT

exas

Uta

hV

erm

ont

Vir

gini

aW

ashi

ngto

nW

est

Vir

gini

aW

isco

nsin

Wyo

min

g

INS

UR

AB

LE C

RO

PS

90-2

90-1

790

-24

90-1

2

90-2

90-1

2

01-2

8,02

-28,

03-2

801

-38,

02-3

8,03

-38

90-1

190

-25

90-4

90-1

3

(P)0

1-38

PY,(P

)02-

38PY

,(P)0

3-38

PY

90-2

90-1

3

90-1

890

-1

90-6

90-3

90-7

BA

NA

NA

Ban

ana

(P)9

0(P

)40

Tre

esB

AR

LEY

01-4

,02-

4,03

-401

-6,0

2-6,

03-6

01-3

3,02

-33,

03-3

301

-32,

02-3

2,03

-32,

(P)3

1-11

,32-

11,3

3-11

01,0

2,03

01-4

,02-

4,03

-4

01-4

3,02

-43,

03-4

3,(P

)31-

33,3

2-33

,33-

3301

-1,0

2-1,

03-1

01-1

,02-

1,03

-101

-7,0

2-7,

03-7

01-7

5,02

-75,

03-7

501

-8,0

2-8,

03-8

01,0

2,03

01-1

8,02

-18,

03-1

8

01-2

8,02

-28,

03-2

801

-72,

02-7

2,03

-72,

(P)3

1-25

,32-

25,3

3-25

01-7

,02-

7,03

-701

-55,

02-5

5,03

-55,

(P)3

1-55

,32-

55,3

3-55

01-1

8,02

-18,

03-1

801

-12,

02-1

2,03

-12

01-7

,02-

7,03

-701

-4,0

2-4,

03-4

01-1

5,02

-15,

03-1

501

-57,

02-5

7,03

-57

(P)0

1PY,

(P)0

2PY,

(P)0

3PY,

(P)3

1,32

,33

01-1

,02-

1,03

-101

-22,

02-2

2,03

-22

01-3

0,02

-30,

03-3

0,(P

)31-

17,3

2-17

,33-

1701

-54,

02-5

4,03

-54

01-6

,02-

6,03

-601

,02,

0301

-2,0

2-2,

03-2

01-4

2,02

-42,

03-4

201

-25,

02-2

5,03

-25,

(P)3

1-10

,32-

10,3

3-10

01-1

,02-

1,03

-101

-62,

02-6

2,03

-62

01-3

8,02

-38,

03-3

8,(P

)31-

14,3

2-14

,33-

1401

-1,0

2-1,

03-1

01-6

0,02

-60,

03-6

001

-18,

02-1

8,03

-18,

(P)3

1-7,

32-7

,33-

7

AV

OC

AD

O

(P)4

0-1C

V

(P)9

0-6Q

E

(P)9

0-1

Tre

esA

voca

do

AP

RIC

OT

S

90-1

3

Pro

cess

ing

90-1

3

90-4

90-5

90-7

Fres

h

90-2

90-1

90-2

590

-390 90

-6

90-5

90-5

90-9

90-1

190

-790

-10

90-2

490

-2

90-9

90 90-1

190

-390

-25

90-1

7

90-1

2

90-1

690

-37

90-3

90-4

90-2

90-2

90-8

90-2

290

-14

90-7

90-1

4

AP

PLE

S

13 14 13 1313

-48,

14-1

5

13 13 14 13

13-2

3

13

13-1

1413 13 14 14 13 13 13 13 14 13 13 13 13 14

13-9

8

13 14

AP

ICU

LTU

RE

90-1

6

ALM

ON

DS

(P)9

0-2C

P

(P)9

0-2C

P

(P)9

0-1C

P

(P)9

0-2C

P

(P)9

0-1C

P

(P)9

0-1C

P

(P)9

0-2C

P

(P)9

0-2C

P

ALF

ALF

A S

EE

DB

EA

NS

BE

AN

S

Dry

38 FEBRUARY2015

INS

UR

AB

LE C

RO

PS

01-1

,02-

1,03

-1

01-1

2,02

-12,

03-1

2

01-2

6,02

-26,

03-2

6

01-5

,02-

5,03

-501

-5,0

2-5,

03-5

01-2

1,02

-21,

03-2

1

01-1

8,02

-18,

03-1

8

01-2

,02-

2,03

-2(P

)01-

PY,(P

)02P

Y,(P

)03-

PY

01-1

5,02

-15,

03-1

501

-7,0

2-7,

03-7

01-1

,02-

1,03

-1

01-3

,02-

3,03

-301

-2,0

2-2,

03-2

01-1

3,02

-13,

03-1

3

90-1

90-6

90-4

90-4

90-3

90-1

90-1

90-3

90-1

90-1

90-1

90-2

90-1

90-1

90-7

90-5

90-1

2

90-8

90-5

90-8

90-4

90-6

90-7

90-1

90-1

3

Proc

essi

ngFr

esh

Mar

ket

(P)4

0-28

CV

ST

AT

EA

lab

ama

Ala

ska

Ari

zona

Ark

ansa

sC

alifo

rnia

Co

lora

do

Co

nnec

ticu

tD

elaw

are

Flo

rid

aG

eorg

iaH

awai

iId

aho

Illin

ois

Ind

iana

Iow

aK

ansa

sK

entu

cky

Loui

sian

aM

aine

Mar

ylan

dM

assa

chus

etts

Mic

higa

nM

inne

sota

Mis

siss

ipp

iM

isso

uri

Mo

ntan

aN

ebra

ska

Nev

ada

New

Ham

psh

ire

New

Jer

sey

New

Mex

ico

New

Yo

rkN

ort

h C

aro

lina

No

rth

Dak

ota

Ohi

oO

klah

om

aO

rego

nP

enns

ylva

nia

Rho

de

Isla

ndS

out

h C

aro

lina

So

uth

Dak

ota

Ten

ness

eeT

exas

Uta

hV

erm

ont

Vir

gini

aW

ashi

ngto

nW

est

Vir

gini

aW

isco

nsin

Wyo

min

g

(P)5

1-1

(P)5

1-2

(P)4

7-16

(P)4

7-5

(P)4

7-14

(P)4

7-2

(P)4

7-4

(P)4

7-9

(P)4

7-2

(P)4

7-11

(P)4

7-1

(P)4

0-2

90-4

1

90-1

1

90-7

90-1

2

90-3

90-2

90-4

90-2

90-1

0

90-7

90-1

5

90-3

90-1

90-1

890

-1

90-8

90-1

5

90-4

90-5

90-2

90-7

90-4

2

90-9

90-4

90-2

CA

RA

MB

OLA

TR

EE

SC

AN

OLA

CA

ME

LIN

AC

ITR

US

TR

EEA

ll O

ther

Cit

rus

Tree

s

cont

’d B

EAN

S

CA

BB

AG

EB

UC

KW

HE

AT

BLU

EB

ER

RIE

SB

EA

NS

CH

ER

RIE

SC

HIL

EP

EP

PE

RS

90-8

90-4

90-5

90-7

FRE

SH

NE

CT

AR

INE

S

CIT

RU

S

CROPINSURANCE TODAY® 39

ST

AT

EA

lab

ama

Ala

ska

Ari

zona

Ark

ansa

sC

alifo

rnia

Co

lora

do

Co

nnec

ticu

tD

elaw

are

Flo

rid

aG

eorg

iaH

awai

iId

aho

Illin

ois

Ind

iana

Iow

aK

ansa

sK

entu

cky

Loui

sian

aM

aine

Mar

ylan

dM

assa

chus

etts

Mic

higa

nM

inne

sota

Mis

siss

ipp

iM

isso

uri

Mo

ntan

aN

ebra

ska

Nev

ada

New

Ham

psh

ire

New

Jer

sey

New

Mex

ico

New

Yo

rkN

ort

h C

aro

lina

No

rth

Dak

ota

Ohi

oO

klah

om

aO

rego

nP

enns

ylva

nia

Rho

de

Isla

ndS

out

h C

aro

lina

So

uth

Dak

ota

Ten

ness

eeT

exas

Uta

hV

erm

ont

Vir

gini

aW

ashi

ngto

nW

est

Vir

gini

aW

isco

nsin

Wyo

min

g

INS

UR

AB

LE C

RO

PS

90-3

(P)9

0-7Q

E

50-2

9

OR

AN

GES

(P)4

0-28

CV

(P)4

0-3

90-3

Ear

ly, M

idse

aso

n&

Lat

eO

rang

es

90-3

(P)4

7-4Q

E,(P

)90-

12QE

50-2

9(P

)40-

1

90-3

(P)9

0-9Q

E

50-2

9

MA

ND

AR

INS

/TA

NG

ERIN

ES

50-2

Lim

es

(P)4

0-3

Tree

s

LEM

ON

S 90-3

(P)9

0-13

QE

50-3

Lem

ons

(P)4

0-4

Tre

es

(P)4

0-28

CV

(P)4

0-3

Rio

Red

, Sta

r R

uby

& R

uby

Red

90-3

90-3

(P)9

0-9Q

E

50-2

9

90-3

Gra

pef

ruit

All

Oth

erG

rap

efru

it

GR

AP

EFR

UIT

Tre

esLI

ME

SM

AN

GO

TREE

ST

rees

cont

’d C

ITR

US

TAN

GEL

OS

40 FEBRUARY2015

ST

AT

EA

lab

ama

Ala

ska

Ari

zona

Ark

ansa

sC

alifo

rnia

Co

lora

do

Co

nnec

ticu

tD

elaw

are

Flo

rid

aG

eorg

iaH

awai

iId

aho

Illin

ois

Ind

iana

Iow

aK

ansa

sK

entu

cky

Loui

sian

aM

aine

Mar

ylan

dM

assa

chus

etts

Mic

higa

nM

inne

sota

Mis

siss

ipp

iM

isso

uri

Mo

ntan

aN

ebra

ska

Nev

ada

New

Ham

psh

ire

New

Jer

sey

New

Mex

ico

New

Yo

rkN

ort

h C

aro

lina

No

rth

Dak

ota

Ohi

oO

klah

om

aO

rego

nP

enns

ylva

nia

Rho

de

Isla

ndS

out

h C

aro

lina

So

uth

Dak

ota

Ten

ness

eeT

exas

Uta

hV

erm

ont

Vir

gini

aW

ashi

ngto

nW

est

Vir

gini

aW

isco

nsin

Wyo

min

g

INS

UR

AB

LE C

RO

PS

90-7

90-5

90-3

90-1

4

01-6

3,02

-63,

03-6

3,(P

)31-

63,(P

)32-

63,(P

)33-

63,(P

)3

01-9

,02-

9,03

-9,(P

)31-

9,(P

)32-

9,(P

)33-

9,(P

)35-

9,(P

01-2

5,02

-25,

03-2

5,04

-4,0

5-4,

06-4

,(P)3

1-25

,(P)3

2-2

01-1

2,02

-12,

03-1

2,(P

)31-

12,(P

)32-

12,(P

)33-

12,(P

)3

01-2

5,02

-25,

03-2

5,(P

)31-

25,(P

)32-

25,(P

)33-

25,(P

)301

-100

,02-

100,

03-1

00,0

4-12

,05-

12,0

6-12

,(P)3

1-10

0

01-2

7,02

-27,

03-2

7,(P

)31-

27,(P

)32-

27,(P

)33-

27,(P

)3

01-2

3,02

-23,

03-2

3,04

-5,0

5-5,

06-5

,(P)3

1-23

,(P)3

2-2

01-6

2,02

-62,

03-6

2,04

-4,0

5-4,

06-4

,(P)3

1-62

,(P)3

2-6

01-7

,02-

7,03

-7,0

4-4,

05-4

,06-

4,(P

)31-

7,(P

)32-

7,(P

)

01-1

0,02

-10,

03-1

0,(P

)31-

10,(P

)32-

10,(P

)33-

10,(P

)3

01-5

8,02

-58,

03-5

8,04

-6,0

5-6,

06-6

,(P)3

1-58

,(P)3

2-5

01-3

6,02

-36,

03-3

6,(P

)31-

36,(P

)32-

36,(P

)33-

36,(P

)3

01-4

2,02

-42,

03-4

2,(P

)31-

42,(P

)32-

42,(P

)33-

42,(P

)3

01-2

4,02

-24,

03-2

4,04

-5,0

5-5,

06-5

,(P)3

1-24

,(P)3

2-2

01-1

76,0

2-17

6,03

-176

,04-

30,0

5-30

,06-

30,(P

)31-

176

01-1

5,02

-15,

03-1

5,(P

)31-

15,(P

)32-

15,(P

)33-

15,(P

)3

Cot

ton

CO

RN

50-1

50-4

50 50-1

150

-3

50 50-9

50-1

1

5050

-16

50-5

4

50-6

650 50 50

-2

Fres

hM

arke

t

01-6

4,02

-64,

03-6

4,(P

)31-

64,(P

)32-

64,(P

)33-

64

01-4

,02-

4,03

-401

-46,

02-4

6,03

-46,

(P)3

1-27

,(P)3

2-27

.(P)3

3-27

01-1

9,02

-19,

03-1

9,(P

)31-

17,(P

)32-

17,(P

)33-

1701

-26,

02-2

6,03

-26,

(P)3

1-22

,(P)3

2-22

,(P)3

3-22

01,0

2,03

01,0

2,03

,(P)3

1,(P

)32,

(P)3

301

-28,

02-2

8,03

-28

01-1

40,0

2-14

0,03

-140

,(P)3

1-11

6,(P

)32-

116,

(P)3

3-11

01-1

9,02

-19,

03-1

901

,02,

03,0

4-95

,05-

95,0

6-95

,(P)3

1,(P

)32,

(P)3

301

,02,

03,0

4-84

,05-

84,0

6-84

,(P)3

1,(P

)32,

(P)3

301

,02,

03,0

4,05

,06,

(P)3

1,(P

)32,

(P)3

301

,02,

03,(P

)31,

(P)3

2,(P

)33

01-1

04,0

2-10

4,03

-104

,04-

34,0

5-34

,06-

34,(P

)31-

104

01-3

5,02

-35,

03-3

5,(P

)31-

18,(P

)32-

18,(P

)33-

1801

,02,

0301

-23,

02-2

3,03

-23,

(P)3

1-21

,(P)3

2-21

,(P)3

3-21

01-1

2,02

-12,

03-1

201

-76,

02-7

6,03

-76,

04-3

8,05

-38,

06-3

8,(P

)31-

76,(P

)301

-84,

02-8

4,03

-84,

04-6

0,05

-60,

06-6

0,(P

)31-

77,(P

)301

-75,

02-7

5,03

-75,

(P)3

1-55

,(P)3

2-55

,(P)3

3-55

01-1

02,0

2-10

2,03

-102

,04-

62,0

5-62

,06-

62,(P

)31-

102

01-2

4,02

-24,

03-2

4,(P

)31-

18,(P

)32-

18,(P

)33-

1801

-91,

02-9

1,03

-91,

04-4

1,05

-41,

06-4

1,(P

)31-

91,(P

)301

-1,0

2-1,

03-1

01,0

2,03

01-1

6,02

-16,

03-1

6,(P

)31-

16,(P

)32-

16,(P

)33-

1601

-16,

02-1

6,03

-16,

(P)3

1-5,

(P)3

2-5,

(P)3

3-5

01-5

2,02

-52,

03-5

2,(P

)31-

51,(P

)32-

51,(P

)33-

5101

,02,

03,(P

)31,

(P)3

2,(P

)33

(P)0

1PY,

(P)0

2PY,

(P)0

3PY,

(P)3

1,(P

)32,

(P)3

301

,02,

03,0

4-65

,05-

65,0

6-65

,(P)3

1,(P

)32,

(P)3

301

-63,

02-6

3,03

-63,

(P)3

1-40

,(P)3

2-40

,(P)3

3-40

01-1

8,02

-18,

03-1

801

-66,

02-6

6,03

-66,

(P)3

1-66

,(P)3

2-66

,(P)3

3-66

01,0

2,03

01,0

2,03

,(P)3

1-33

,(P)3

2-33

,(P)3

3-33

01,0

2,03

,04-

27,0

5-27

,06-

27,(P

)31,

(P)3

2,(P

)33

01-8

8,02

-88,

03-8

8,04

-6,0

5-6,

06-6

,(P)3

1-88

,(P)3

2-8

01-1

36,0

2-13

6,03

-136

,(P)3

1-11

9,(P

)32-

119,

(P)3

3-11

01-1

8,02

-18,

03-1

801

,02,

0301

-97,

02-9

7,03

-97,

(P)3

1-97

,(P)3

2-97

,(P)3

3-97

01-2

7,02

-27,

03-2

7,(P

)31-

9,(P

)32-

9,(P

)33-

901

,02,

03,(P

)31-

14,(P

)32-

14,(P

)33-

1401

,02,

03,0

4-58

,05-

58,0

6-58

,(P)3

1-71

,(P)3

2-71

,(P)3

01-1

1,02

-11,

03-1

1,(P

)31-

8,(P

)32-

8,(P

)33-

8

Co

rn

(P)4

0CV

Tre

e

CO

FFE

E

(P)9

0

Co

ffee

(P)4

3-5

(P)4

3-2

(P)4

3-2

CLA

MS

50-2

9

TA

NG

OR

S

40-3

TA

NG

ER

INE

TR

EE

S

cont

’d C

ITR

US

Hyb

rid

See

d

55-4

755

-39

55-6

3

55-8

55-1

0

55-5

55-3

5

55-6

55-1

55-4

55-1

1

Sw

eet

90

90-1

290

-9

90-1

1

90-5

90-3

8

90-1

1

90-1

290

-12

90-1

3

90-4

0

Extr

a Lo

ngS

tapl

e

CO

TTO

N

CROPINSURANCE TODAY® 41

ST

AT

EA

lab

ama

Ala

ska

Ari

zona

Ark

ansa

sC

alifo

rnia

Co

lora

do

Co

nnec

ticu

tD

elaw

are

Flo

rid

aG

eorg

iaH

awai

iId

aho

Illin

ois

Ind

iana

Iow

aK

ansa

sK

entu

cky

Loui

sian

aM

aine

Mar

ylan

dM

assa

chus

etts

Mic

higa

nM

inne

sota

Mis

siss

ipp

iM

isso

uri

Mo

ntan

aN

ebra

ska

Nev

ada

New

Ham

psh

ire

New

Jer

sey

New

Mex

ico

New

Yo

rkN

ort

h C

aro

lina

No

rth

Dak

ota

Ohi

oO

klah

om

aO

rego

nP

enns

ylva

nia

Rho

de

Isla

ndS

out

h C

aro

lina

So

uth

Dak

ota

Ten

ness

eeT

exas

Uta

hV

erm

ont

Vir

gini

aW

ashi

ngto

nW

est

Vir

gini

aW

isco

nsin

Wyo

min

g

Proc

essi

ng

INS

UR

AB

LE C

RO

PS

90-1

5

90-1

0

90-1

3

(P)9

0-2P

Y

90-2

6

90-2

50-3

,90-

3

Cat

tle

LIV

ESTO

CK

81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81

GR

APE

S Tabl

e G

rape

s

90-2

90-3

190

-1

90-6

90-4

90-2

90-1

90-1

90-1

290

-3

90-3

90-1

590

-290

-1

90-8

90-1

8

Gra

pes

FOR

AG

E

50-1

0

50-8

5

50-2

50-1

0

50-8

50-8

4

50 50-8

50-4

50-1

50-1

6

50-8

50

50-6

6

50

50-1

750

-1

50 50

See

din

g

90-5

90-6

90-2

590

-2

90-5

04-2

,90-

2

90-8

5

90-2

90-1

0

90-2

204

-37,

90-8

4

90 90-9

90 90-1

90-1

6

90-8

90 90-2

04-2

5,90

-66

90

90-1

7

90-3

04-5

9,90

90

Pro

duc

tio

n

13 13 13 13 13 13

Fora

geFL

AX

90-3

90-1

6

90-4

(P)9

0PY

90

90-4

FIG

S

90-2

90-3

90-6

90-4

90-1

7

90-4

90-4

CU

CU

MB

ER

S

90-6

90-2

90-2

90-3

90-2

90-1

5

CR

AN

BE

RR

IES

SW

INE

90-9

90-1

GR

AS

SS

EE

D

(P)9

0-4

(P)9

0-2

CA

TT

LE

82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82

Dai

ry

82 82

82

82

82

82

82

82

82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82

Fed

Feed

er

81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81 81

81,8

2

81,8

281

,82

81,8

281

,82

82 82 81,8

281

,82

81,8

281

,82

81,8

281

,82

81,8

281

,82

81,8

282 82 82 81,8

281

,82

81,8

281

,82

81,8

281

,82

81,8

282 82 81,8

282 81,8

281

,82

81,8

281

,82

81,8

282 82 81,8

281

,82

81,8

281

,82

81,8

282 81,8

281

,82

81,8

281

,82

81,8

2

MA

CA

DA

MIA

NU

TS

/TR

EE

SM

ILLE

TM

ILLE

T

42 FEBRUARY2015

ST

AT

EA

lab

ama

Ala

ska

Ari

zona

Ark

ansa

sC

alifo

rnia

Co

lora

do

Co

nnec

ticu

tD

elaw

are

Flo

rid

aG

eorg

iaH

awai

iId

aho

Illin

ois

Ind

iana

Iow

aK

ansa

sK

entu

cky

Loui

sian

aM

aine

Mar

ylan

dM

assa

chus

etts

Mic

higa

nM

inne

sota

Mis

siss

ipp

iM

isso

uri

Mo

ntan

aN

ebra

ska

Nev

ada

New

Ham

psh

ire

New

Jer

sey

New

Mex

ico

New

Yo

rkN

ort

h C

aro

lina

No

rth

Dak

ota

Ohi

oO

klah

om

aO

rego

nP

enns

ylva

nia

Rho

de

Isla

ndS

out

h C

aro

lina

So

uth

Dak

ota

Ten

ness

eeT

exas

Uta

hV

erm

ont

Vir

gini

aW

ashi

ngto

nW

est

Vir

gini

aW

isco

nsin

Wyo

min

g

INS

UR

AB

LE C

RO

PS

Papa

ya

90-1

3

90-1

1

(P)9

0-18

PY

90-1

90-7

90-4

90-5

90-2

90-1

0

90-6

90-4

MIN

TM

US

TA

RD

NU

RS

ER

Y

(P)5

0PO

50-5

50-7

(P)5

0PO

50-4

450

(P)5

0PO

50(P

)50P

O(P

)50P

O50 50

50-4

550

-16

50 50(P

)50P

O(P

)50P

O50

(P)5

0PO

(P)5

0PO

50-3

150

(P)5

0PO

50 50 50 50-5

50(P

)50P

O50

(P)5

0PO

(P)5

0PO

5050

-40

50(P

)50P

O(P

)50P

O50

(P)5

0PO

50(P

)50P

O50

50-1

050

(P)5

0-10

2PO

(P)5

0PO

50 50 50

OA

TS

90-2

190

-1

90-1

390

-19

90-1

5

90-1

190

-81

90-4

190

-28

90-2

9090

-92

90-1

090 90

-6

90-6

690

-84

90-1

90-1

590

-52

90-8

290

-2

90-4

90-4

690

-82

(P)9

0PY

90-3

790

-51

90-2

590

-66

90-3

790 90

-190

-113

90-1

4

90-1

390

-24

90-2

790

90-1

7

OLI

VE

S

90-1

3

ON

ION

S

90-3

90-8

90-9

90-1

4

90-4

90-2

90-1

3

90-3

90-3

(P)9

0-12

NS

90-6

90-1

490

-3

90-6

Tree

(P)9

0(P

)40C

V

PA

PA

YA

PA

ST

UR

ER

AN

GE

LAN

DFO

RA

GE

(P)1

3

(P)1

4(P

)13

(P)1

3(P

)13-

48,(P

)14-

15

(P)1

3(P

)13

(P)1

4

(P)1

3

(P)1

3-23

(P)1

3

(P)1

3-11

4(P

)13

(P)1

3(P

)14

(P)1

4(P

)13

(P)1

3(P

)13

(P)1

3(P

)14

(P)1

3

(P)1

3(P

)13

(P)1

3(P

)14

(P)1

3-98

(P)1

3(P

)14

Fres

hFr

eest

one

Peac

hes

Proc

essi

ngC

ling

Proc

essi

ngFr

eest

one

PE

AC

HE

S

90-8

90-4

90-5

90-1

90-7

90-7

90-1

5

90-3

90-2

90-1

6

90-4

90-2

90-5

90-6

90-4

90-9

90-1

290

-2

90-1

90-8

90-6

90-1

7

90-4

90-3

090

-190

-14

90-1

090

-21

90-1

90-1

7

90-5

90-1

090

-8

PE

AN

UT

S

01-3

2,02

-32,

03-3

2

01-8

,02-

8,03

-8

01-2

4,02

-24,

03-2

401

-77,

02-7

7,03

-77

01-1

.02-

1,03

-1

01-2

7,02

-27,

03-2

7

01-3

,02-

3,03

-3

01-2

8,02

-28,

03-2

8

01-3

6,02

-36,

03-3

6

01-2

7,02

-27,

03-2

7

01-8

2,02

-82,

03-8

2

01-1

0,02

-10,

03-1

0

PE

AR

S

90-9

90-7

90-1

90-1

2

PE

AR

S

CROPINSURANCE TODAY® 43

ST

AT

EA

lab

ama

Ala

ska

Ari

zona

Ark

ansa

sC

alifo

rnia

Co

lora

do

Co

nnec

ticu

tD

elaw

are

Flo

rid

aG

eorg

iaH

awai

iId

aho

Illin

ois

Ind

iana

Iow

aK

ansa

sK

entu

cky

Loui

sian

aM

aine

Mar

ylan

dM

assa

chus

etts

Mic

higa

nM

inne

sota

Mis

siss

ipp

iM

isso

uri

Mo

ntan

aN

ebra

ska

Nev

ada

New

Ham

psh

ire

New

Jer

sey

New

Mex

ico

New

Yo

rkN

ort

h C

aro

lina

No

rth

Dak

ota

Ohi

oO

klah

om

aO

rego

nP

enns

ylva

nia

Rho

de

Isla

ndS

out

h C

aro

lina

So

uth

Dak

ota

Ten

ness

eeT

exas

Uta

hV

erm

ont

Vir

gini

aW

ashi

ngto

nW

est

Vir

gini

aW

isco

nsin

Wyo

min

g

INS

UR

AB

LE C

RO

PS

90-2

01-8

,02-

8,03

-8,9

0-11

90-1

01-3

3,02

-33,

03-3

390

-13

(P)0

1PY,

(P)0

2PY,

(P)0

3PY

90-3

90-2

7

01-1

1,02

-11,

03-1

1

90-1

90

90-2

090

-8

90-6

90-1

90-7

90-1

90-3

5

90-1

7

90-3

90-1

0

90-1

6

90-4

3

Gre

enD

ry

PE

AS

PE

CA

NS

41-2

4

41-5

41-4

41-1

41-8

3

41-2

41-6

41-6

41-1

6

PE

PP

ER

S

50-1

3

PIS

TA

CH

IOS

(P)9

0-2

(P)9

0-21

(P)9

0-1

PLU

MS

90-1

0

90-4

90-5

90-4

PO

PC

OR

N

01-1

,02-

1,03

-1

01-5

,02-

5,03

-5

01-1

6,02

-16,

03-1

6,04

-95,

05-9

5,06

-95

01-4

7,02

-47,

03-4

7,04

-84,

05-8

4,06

-84

01-2

5,02

-25,

03-2

5,04

,05,

06

01-4

,02-

4,03

-4,0

4-34

,05-

34,0

6-34

01-3

,02-

3,03

-3,0

4-38

,05-

38,0

6-38

01-2

,02-

2,03

-2,0

4-60

,05-

60,0

6-60

01-1

7,02

-17,

03-1

7,04

-62,

05-6

2,06

-62

01-6

2,02

-62,

03-6

2,04

-41,

05-4

1,06

-41

01-2

2,02

-22,

03-2

2,04

-65,

05-6

5,06

-65

01-5

,02-

5,03

-5,0

4-27

,05-

27,0

6-27

04-6

,05-

6,06

-6

04-5

8,05

-58,

06-5

8

PO

TA

TO

ES

90-3

90-3

90-2

90-6

90-9

90-1

90-2

90-1

1

90-2

6

90-1

90-3

90-4

90-5

90-3

90-2

90-3

290

-26

90-2

90-8

90-1

390

-1

90-6

90-4

90-1

590

-10

90-2

590

-190

-390

-14

90-1

390

-2

90-5

90-1

9

90-2

90-1

3

90-1

790

-2

PR

UN

ES

PU

MP

KIN

S

90-1

4

90-1

1

50-7

RA

ISIN

S

44 FEBRUARY2015

ST

AT

EA

lab

ama

Ala

ska

Ari

zona

Ark

ansa

sC

alifo

rnia

Co

lora

do

Co

nnec

ticu

tD

elaw

are

Flo

rid

aG

eorg

iaH

awai

iId

aho

Illin

ois

Ind

iana

Iow

aK

ansa

sK

entu

cky

Loui

sian

aM

aine

Mar

ylan

dM

assa

chus

etts

Mic

higa

nM

inne

sota

Mis

siss

ipp

iM

isso

uri

Mo

ntan

aN

ebra

ska

Nev

ada

New

Ham

psh

ire

New

Jer

sey

New

Mex

ico

New

Yo

rkN

ort

h C

aro

lina

No

rth

Dak

ota

Ohi

oO

klah

om

aO

rego

nP

enns

ylva

nia

Rho

de

Isla

ndS

out

h C

aro

lina

So

uth

Dak

ota

Ten

ness

eeT

exas

Uta

hV

erm

ont

Vir

gini

aW

ashi

ngto

nW

est

Vir

gini

aW

isco

nsin

Wyo

min

g

INS

UR

AB

LE C

RO

PS

90-5

90-6

Ric

eC

ulti

vate

dW

ild R

ice

RIC

E

01-3

7,02

-37,

03-3

7,04

-19,

05-1

9,06

-19,

(P)3

1-26

,(P)3

01-1

3,02

-13,

03-1

3,04

-6,0

5-6,

06-6

,(P)3

1-9,

(P)3

2-9

01-3

,02-

3,03

-3

01-2

,02-

2,03

-2

01-3

0,02

-30,

03-3

0,04

-5,0

5-5,

06-5

,(P)3

1-21

,(P)3

2-2

01-1

7,02

-17,

03-1

7,04

-2,0

5-2,

06-2

,(P)3

1-12

,(P)3

2-1

01-8

,02-

8,03

-8,(P

)31-

6,(P

)32-

6,(P

)33-

6

01-1

,02-

1,03

-1

01-1

,02-

1,03

-101

-22,

02-2

2,03

-22,

04-1

,05-

1,06

-1,(P

)31-

16,(P

)32-

1

RY

E

90-3

(P)9

0-21

PY

90-6

90-3

90-1

3

90-2

SA

FFLO

WE

R

90-1

4

90-1

0

90-2

3

(P)9

0-21

PY

90-1

0

90-5

SE

SA

ME

(P)9

0-4

(P)9

0-15

(P)9

0-34

55-5

55-2

55-1

9

SO

RG

HU

MH

ybir

d

Sor

ghum

See

d

01-3

7,02

-37,

03-3

7

01-4

,02-

4,03

-401

-37,

02-3

7,03

-37,

(P)3

1-20

,(P)3

2-20

,(P)3

3-20

01-5

,02-

5,03

-501

-18,

02-1

8,03

-18,

(P)3

1-15

,(P)3

2-15

,(P)3

3-15

01-2

,02-

2,03

-201

-5,0

2-5,

03-5

01-8

2,02

-82,

03-8

2

01-4

6,02

-46,

03-4

6,(P

)31-

24,(P

)32-

24,(P

)33-

2401

-10,

02-1

0,03

-10

01-4

,02-

4,03

-401

,02,

03,0

4-27

,05-

27,0

6-27

,(P)3

1,(P

)32,

(P)3

301

-16,

02-1

6,03

-16

01-2

5,02

-25,

03-2

5,(P

)31-

15,(P

)32-

15,(P

)33-

15

01-1

6,02

-16,

03-1

6

01-3

0,02

-30,

03-3

0,(P

)31-

5,(P

)32-

5,(P

)33-

501

-92,

02-9

2,03

-92,

(P)3

1-33

,(P)3

2-33

,(P)3

3-33

01-7

4,02

-74,

03-7

4,(P

)31-

29,(P

)32-

29,(P

)33-

29

01-2

,02-

2,03

-201

-10,

02-1

0,03

-10,

(P)3

1-1,

(P)3

2-1,

(P)3

3-1

01-1

7,02

-17,

03-1

701

-81,

02-8

1,03

-81

(P)0

1-1P

Y,(P

)02-

1PY,

(P)0

3-1P

Y01

-1,0

2-1,

03-1

01-6

9,02

-69,

03-6

9,(P

)31-

38,(P

)32-

38,(P

)33-

38

01-5

7,02

-57,

03-5

7

01-3

3,02

-33,

03-3

301

-59,

02-5

9,03

-59,

(P)3

1-16

,(P)3

2-16

,(P)3

3-16

01-2

5,02

-25,

03-2

501

-196

,02-

196,

03-1

96,0

4-18

,05-

18,0

6-18

,(P)3

1-14

7

01-7

9,02

-79,

03-7

9

01-1

,02-

1,03

-1

Gra

in S

org

hum

(P)9

0-2

(P)9

0-37

(P)9

0-6

(P)9

0-3

(P)9

0-49

SIL

AG

E

SO

RG

HU

M

CROPINSURANCE TODAY® 45

ST

AT

EA

lab

ama

Ala

ska

Ari

zona

Ark

ansa

sC

alifo

rnia

Co

lora

do

Co

nnec

ticu

tD

elaw

are

Flo

rid

aG

eorg

iaH

awai

iId

aho

Illin

ois

Ind

iana

Iow

aK

ansa

sK

entu

cky

Loui

sian

aM

aine

Mar

ylan

dM

assa

chus

etts

Mic

higa

nM

inne

sota

Mis

siss

ipp

iM

isso

uri

Mo

ntan

aN

ebra

ska

Nev

ada

New

Ham

psh

ire

New

Jer

sey

New

Mex

ico

New

Yo

rkN

ort

h C

aro

lina

No

rth

Dak

ota

Ohi

oO

klah

om

aO

rego

nP

enns

ylva

nia

Rho

de

Isla

ndS

out

h C

aro

lina

So

uth

Dak

ota

Ten

ness

eeT

exas

Uta

hV

erm

ont

Vir

gini

aW

ashi

ngto

nW

est

Vir

gini

aW

isco

nsin

Wyo

min

g

INS

UR

AB

LE C

RO

PS

Bur

ley

01-5

8,02

-58,

03-5

8,(P

)31-

58,(P

)32-

58,(P

)33-

58

01-4

7,02

-47,

03-4

7,(P

)31-

44,(P

)32-

44,(P

)33-

44

01-9

,02-

9,03

-9

01,0

2,03

,(P)3

1,(P

)32,

(P)3

301

-20,

02-2

0,03

-20

01-1

24,0

2-12

4,03

-124

,(P)3

1-10

8,(P

)32-

108,

(P)3

3-10

01,0

2,03

,04-

97,0

5-97

,06-

97,(P

)31,

(P)3

2,(P

)33

01,0

2,03

,04-

85,0

5-85

,06-

85,(P

)31,

(P)3

2,(P

)33

01,0

2,03

,04,

05,0

6,(P

)31,

(P)3

2,(P

)33

01,0

2,03

,(P)3

1,(P

)32,

(P)3

301

-84,

02-8

4,03

-84,

04-2

5,05

-25,

06-2

5,(P

)31-

84,(P

)301

-46,

02-4

6,03

-46,

(P)3

1-30

,(P)3

2-30

,(P)3

3-30

01-2

2,02

-22,

03-2

2,(P

)31-

21,(P

)32-

21,(P

)33-

21

01-5

8,02

-58,

03-5

8,04

-36,

05-3

6,06

-36,

(P)3

1-52

,(P)3

01-8

2,02

-82,

03-8

2,04

-56,

05-5

6,06

-56,

(P)3

1-77

,(P)3

01-7

6,02

-76,

03-7

6,(P

)31-

56,(P

)32-

56,(P

)33-

5601

-96,

02-9

6,03

-96,

04-7

3,05

-73,

06-7

3,(P

)31-

96,(P

)3

01-7

9,02

-79,

03-7

9,04

-41,

05-4

1,06

-41,

(P)3

1-76

,(P)3

01-1

4,02

-14,

03-1

4,(P

)31-

14,(P

)32-

14,(P

)33-

14

01-3

8,02

-38,

03-3

801

-89,

02-8

9,03

-89,

04-2

7,05

-27,

06-2

7,(P

)31-

81,(P

)3(P

)01-

44PY

,(P)0

2-44

PY,(P

)03-

44PY

,(P)3

1-34

,(P)3

2-3

01-8

5,02

-85,

03-8

5,04

-57,

05-5

7,06

-57,

(P)3

1-85

,(P)3

01-6

2,02

-62,

03-6

2,(P

)31-

48,(P

)32-

48,(P

)33-

4801

-1,0

2-1,

03-1

01-5

1,02

-51,

03-5

1,(P

)31-

47,(P

)32-

47,(P

)33-

47

01,0

2,03

,04-

10,0

5-10

,06-

10,(P

)31-

33,(P

)32-

33,(P

)301

-48,

02-4

8,03

-48,

04-2

0,05

-20,

06-2

0,(P

)31-

48,(P

)301

-76,

02-7

6,03

-76,

04-1

3,05

-13,

06-1

3,(P

)31-

76,(P

)301

-79,

02-7

9,03

-79,

(P)3

1-29

,(P)3

2-29

,(P)3

3-29

01-3

,02-

3,03

-301

-86,

02-8

6,03

-86,

(P)3

1-72

,(P)3

2-72

,(P)3

3-72

01-1

,02-

1,03

-101

-10,

02-1

0,03

-10

01-6

6,02

-66,

03-6

6,04

-45,

05-4

5,06

-45,

(P)3

1-66

,(P)3

SO

YB

EA

NS

ST

RA

WB

ER

RIE

S

(P)4

7-6

SU

GA

RB

EE

TS

90-1

(P)9

0-10

NS

(P)9

0-16

NS

(P)9

0-16

NS

(P)9

0-32

NS

(P)9

0-12

NS

(P)9

0-14

NS

(P)9

0-9N

S

(P)9

0-2N

S

(P)9

0-1N

S

(P)9

0-7N

S

SU

GA

RC

AN

E

90-4

90-2

4

90-3

SU

NFL

OW

ER

S

01-1

7,02

-17,

03-1

7

01-7

0,02

-70,

03-7

0

01-3

2,02

-32,

03-3

2

01-1

3,02

-13,

03-1

301

-30,

02-3

0,03

-30

(P)0

1-PY

,(P)0

2-PY

,(P)0

3PY

01-2

,02-

2,03

-2

01-5

2,02

-52,

03-5

2

01-3

2,02

-32,

03-3

2

01-4

,02-

4,03

-4

SW

EE

TP

OT

AT

OE

S

90-9

Cig

arB

inde

rC

igar

Fi

ller

Cig

arW

rapp

er

90-1

7

90-1

08

90-5

90-2

5

90-1

1

90-5

7

90-2

3

90-7

90-2

90-3

90-1

1

90-3

90-2

90-3

90-2

2

90-9

90-1

9

TO

BA

CC

OD

ark

Air

&Fi

re C

ured

46 FEBRUARY2015

ST

AT

EA

lab

ama

Ala

ska

Ari

zona

Ark

ansa

sC

alifo

rnia

Co

lora

do

Co

nnec

ticu

tD

elaw

are

Flo

rid

aG

eorg

iaH

awai

iId

aho

Illin

ois

Ind

iana

Iow

aK

ansa

sK

entu

cky

Loui

sian

aM

aine

Mar

ylan

dM

assa

chus

etts

Mic

higa

nM

inne

sota

Mis

siss

ipp

iM

isso

uri

Mo

ntan

aN

ebra

ska

Nev

ada

New

Ham

psh

ire

New

Jer

sey

New

Mex

ico

New

Yo

rkN

ort

h C

aro

lina

No

rth

Dak

ota

Ohi

oO

klah

om

aO

rego

nP

enns

ylva

nia

Rho

de

Isla

ndS

out

h C

aro

lina

So

uth

Dak

ota

Ten

ness

eeT

exas

Uta

hV

erm

ont

Vir

gini

aW

ashi

ngto

nW

est

Vir

gini

aW

isco

nsin

Wyo

min

g

INS

UR

AB

LE C

RO

PS

Fesh

Mar

ket

90-8

90-3

7

90-6

3

90-1

3

90-2

5

Mar

ylan

dFl

ueC

ured

cont’d

TO

BA

CC

O

90-5

90-1

Tom

atoe

s

TO

MA

TO

ES

90-2

90-5

90-7

50-1

6,90

-490

-5

90-4

90-4

90-3

90-7

90-2

90-1

7

90-2

90-2

2

90-7

90-6

90-5

90-6

90-1

1

90-1

6

90-1

WA

LNU

TS

90-2

6

WH

EA

T

01-5

9,02

-59,

03-5

901

-2,0

2-2,

03-2

01-1

1,02

-11,

03-1

101

-45,

02-4

5,03

-45,

04-1

7,05

-17,

06-1

7,(P

)31-

19,(P

)301

-35,

02-3

5,03

-35,

(P)3

1-8,

(P)3

2-8,

(P)3

3-8

01-4

0,02

-40,

03-4

0,04

-6,0

5-6,

06-6

,(P)3

1-14

,(P)3

2-1

01,0

2,03

01-2

0,02

-20,

03-2

001

-128

,02-

128,

03-1

28,(P

)31-

2,(P

)32-

2,(P

)33-

2

01-4

2,02

-42,

03-4

2,(P

)31-

19,(P

)32-

19,(P

)33-

1901

,02,

03,0

4-24

,05-

24,0

6-24

,(P)3

1-28

,(P)3

2-28

,(P)3

01-9

1,02

-91,

03-9

1,04

-5,0

5-5,

06-5

,(P)3

1-7,

(P)3

2-7

01-5

0,02

-50,

03-5

001

,02,

03,0

4-79

,05-

79,0

6-79

,(P)3

1-97

,(P)3

2-97

,(P)3

01-6

7,02

-67,

03-6

7,04

-5,0

5-5,

06-5

,(P)3

1-10

,(P)3

2-1

01-3

6,02

-36,

03-3

601

,02,

0301

-23,

02-2

3,03

-23,

04-4

,05-

4,06

-4,(P

)31-

8,(P

)32-

8

01-6

5,02

-65,

03-6

5,04

-16,

05-1

6,06

-16,

(P)3

1-20

,(P)3

01-8

1,02

-81,

03-8

1,04

-18,

05-1

8,06

-18,

(P)3

1-61

,(P)3

01-6

4,02

-64,

03-6

4,04

-4,0

5-4,

06-4

,(P)3

1-5,

(P)3

2-5

01-9

6,02

-96,

03-9

6,04

-31,

05-3

1,06

-31,

(P)3

1-31

,(P)3

01-5

4,02

-54,

03-5

4,04

-25,

05-2

5,06

-25,

(P)3

1-37

,(P)3

01-8

3,02

-83,

03-8

3,04

-26,

05-2

6,06

-26,

(P)3

1-32

,(P)3

01-1

2,02

-12,

03-1

2

01-1

0,02

-10,

03-1

001

-14,

02-1

4,03

-14,

(P)3

1-3,

(P)3

2-3,

(P)3

3-3

01-2

7,02

-27,

03-2

7,(P

)31-

3,(P

)32-

3,(P

)33-

301

-82,

02-8

2,03

-82,

04-8

,05-

8,06

-8,(P

)31-

15,(P

)32-

1(P

)01P

Y,(P

)02P

Y,(P

)03P

Y,04

-41,

05-4

1,06

-41,

(P)3

101

-76,

02-7

6,03

-76,

04-2

6,05

-26,

06-2

6,(P

)31-

31,(P

)301

-73,

02-7

3,03

-73,

04-2

0,05

-20,

06-2

0,(P

)31-

38,(P

)301

-30,

02-3

0,03

-30,

(P)3

1-12

,(P)3

2-12

,(P)3

3-12

01-5

7,02

-57,

03-5

7,(P

)31-

4,(P

)32-

4,(P

)33-

4

01-4

5,02

-45,

03-4

5,(P

)31-

8,(P

)32-

8,(P

)33-

801

,02,

03,0

4-29

,05-

29,0

6-29

,(P)3

1-48

,(P)3

2-48

,(P)3

01-6

5,02

-65,

03-6

5,04

-4,0

5-4,

06-4

,(P)3

1-8,

(P)3

2-8

01-2

01,0

2-20

1,03

-201

,04-

48,0

5-48

,06-

48,(P

)31-

6701

-23,

02-2

3,03

-23

01-2

,02-

2,03

-201

-78,

02-7

8,03

-78,

(P)3

1-3,

(P)3

2-3,

(P)3

3-3

01-2

9,02

-29,

03-2

9,(P

)31-

14,(P

)32-

14,(P

)33-

1401

-21,

02-2

1,03

-21

01-5

8,02

-58,

03-5

8,(P

)31-

11,(P

)32-

11,(P

)33-

1101

-16,

02-1

6,03

-16,

(P)3

1-2,

(P)3

2-2,

(P)3

3-2

WH

OLE

FA

RM

RE

VE

NU

EP

RO

TE

CT

ION

(P)7

6(P

)76

(P)7

6

(P)7

6-15

(P)7

6(P

)76

(P)7

6(P

)76

(P)7

6(P

)76

(P)7

6(P

)76

(P)7

6(P

)76

(P)7

6(P

)76

(P)7

6(P

)76

(P)7

6(P

)76

(P)7

6

(P)7

6(P

)76

(P)7

6(P

)76

(P)7

6(P

)76

(P)7

6(P

)76

(P)7

6(P

)76

(P)7

6

(P)7

6(P

)76

(P)7

6(P

)76

(P)7

6(P

)76

(P)7

6(P

)76

(P)7

6(P

)76

(P)7

6(P

)76

(P)7

6

01 =

YP-

Yiel

d Pr

otec

tion

02 =

RP-

Reve

nue

Prot

ectio

n03

= R

PHPE

-Rev

enue

Pro

t with

Har

vest

Pric

e Ex

clus

ion

04 =

AYP

-Are

a Yi

eld

Prot

ectio

n05

= A

RP-A

rea

Reve

nue

Prot

ectio

n06

= A

RP-H

PE-A

rea

Reve

nue

Prot

ectio

n–Ha

rves

t Pric

e Ex

clus

ion

13 =

RI-R

ainf

all I

ndex

14 =

VI-V

eget

atio

n In

dex

31 =

SCO

-YP-

Supp

Cov

Opt

–Yie

ld P

rot

32 =

SCO

-RP-

Supp

Cov

Opt

–Rev

Pro

t33

= S

CO-R

PHPE

-Sup

p Co

v Op

t–Re

v Pr

ot w

ith H

arv

Pric

e Ex

cl35

= S

TAX-

RP-S

tack

ed In

c Pr

ot P

lan–

Rev

Prot

36 =

STA

X-RP

HPE-

Stac

ked

Inc

Prot

Pla

n–Re

v Pr

ot w

Har

v Pr

ice

Excl

40 =

TD

O-Tr

ee B

ased

Dol

lar A

mou

nt O

f Ins

uran

ce41

= P

RV-P

ecan

Rev

enue

43 =

AQD

OL-A

quac

ultu

re D

olla

r47

= A

RH-A

ctua

l Rev

enue

His

tory

50 =

DO-

Dolla

r Am

ount

Of I

nsur

ance

51 =

FD

-Fix

ed D

olla

r55

= Y

DO-

Yiel

d Ba

sed

Dolla

r Am

ount

Of I

nsur

ance

76 =

WFR

P-W

hole

Far

m R

even

ue P

rote

ctio

n81

= L

RP-L

ives

tock

Ris

k Pr

otec

tion

82 =

LGM

-Liv

esto

ck G

ross

Mar

gin

90 =

APH

-Act

ual P

rodu

ctio

n Hi

stor

y

Pilo

t Opt

ion

Rate

Pro

gram

sCP

= C

ontra

ct P

ricing

CV =

Com

preh

ensiv

e Tre

e Valu

eQE

= Q

uara

ntine

End

orse

men

tPY

= P

erso

nal T

Yiel

dNS

= S

tage

Rem

oval

PO =

Pric

e End

orse

men

t Opt

ion

CROPINSURANCE TODAY® 47

Expands INDUSTRY AWARDSNCIS VisitWebsite

ag-risk.org

The NCIS industry awards were established in 2001 to honor those individuals who provide exemplary service to the industry as a whole and/or to producers. The award criteria has been changed slightly and a new award category has been added.

Outstanding Service AwardThis award is presented to a crop insurance agent or individual

outside of the industry who provides exceptional service indus-try-wide and outstanding outreach efforts to all farmers, especially limited-resource and/or socially disadvantaged farmers.

Industry Leadership AwardThis award, targeted primarily to members of the NCIS region-

al/state cop insurance and/or NCIS standing committees recognizes individuals who are directly involved in the crop insurance industry and who consistently serve the industry by providing outstanding leadership. One award may be given to a member of a regional/state crop insurance committee and/or a member of a standing committee.

Lifetime Achievement AwardThis new category of award will be given to those people who have

served or are currently serving in leadership capacities within the in-dustry who exhibit(ed) outstanding leadership, guidance and knowl-edge to and of the crop insurance industry.

Criteria for all awards are: 1. Unyielding personal and business ethics. 2. Demonstrated service above and beyond the crop insurance

industry. 3. Represents themselves, their company and the crop insurance in-

dustry well.The winners will be presented with their awards at the crop insur-

ance industry annual convention held in February of each year.All nominations must be submitted in writing to NCIS by October

15, 2015, for awards to be presented at the 2016 Annual Convention. For nomination information and forms to be submitted, please visit the NCIS website at www.ag-risk.org to download. If you have any questions regarding the criteria or whom is eligible for the awards, please contact Laurie Langstraat at NCIS at lauriel@ag-risk.org or 913-685-2767.

Knapp Boddiford, 18 of the S.E. Bulloch FFA Chapter, of Georgia was named the na-tional winner of the Diversified Crop Produc-tion—Placement Proficiency award program at the 87th National FFA Convention & Expo, Oct. 29-Nov. 1, 2014, in Louisville, KY.

Proficiency awards recognize FFA mem-bers who excelled as agricultural entrepre-neurs, employees or volunteers while they gained hands-on career experience. Diversi-fied Crop Production—Placement is one of 49 FFA proficiency award categories offered at local, state and national levels and is spon-sored by National Crop Insurance Services and Crop Production Services.

Knapp works on two family-owned row crop farms in Southeast Georgia. He feels for-tunate to observe two types of management styles and combine them to create a new per-sonal skill set. While his initial farm duties

included trapping feral hog and picking pea-nuts, he now participates in custom harvest-ing and supervised seasonal labor. He looks forward to completing a degree in Crop and

Soil Science and continuing his family’s legacy of row crop production. He is supported by his parents Joe and Susan Boddiford and FFA advisors Susannah Lanier and Brian Elrick.

FFA Proficiency WinnerCropInsurance TODAY

Finalists for the Diversified Crop Production – Placement Award included (left to right): Knapp Boddiford, winner, S.E. Bulloch FFA Chapter, Georgia; Drew Miller, finalist, Chapman FFA Chapter, Kansas; Alex Stucke, finalist, Versailles FFA Chapter, Ohio; and, Daniel McCurdy, finalist, Boyd FFA Chapter, Texas.

48 FEBRUARY2015

‘

Most hailstorms last between three and five minutes.

It may have taken generations to develop your financial security, your investments, your way of life; but farmers know how quickly nature can take it all away. When things look grim, count on Great American for specialized insurance coverage for crop and agribusiness risks.

When it’s grim, you need Great SM

Coverage is summarized. Please refer to the actual policy for a full description of applicable terms, conditions, limits and exclusions. Coverage underwritten by Great American Insurance Company, an authorized insurer

in fifty (50) states and the District of Columbia. Great American is an equal opportunity provider and employer. © 2014 Great American Insurance Company. All rights reserved. 301 E Fourth Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202.

Crop Insurance GreatAmericanCrop.com

Did you know that Great American was one of the original “Approved Insurance Providers” chosen by the USDA when the MPCI program was first introduced in 1980 and has been an AIP ever since?

8900 Indian Creek Parkway, Suite 600Overland Park, Kansas 66210

PRSRT. STD.U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDPermit No. 116LAWRENCE, KS

800.776.4046 | www.RainHail.comCall and partner with us today.

ACE USA Companies - A.M. Best Rating A++ (Superior)

This institution is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

YOUR TRUSTED SOURCE FOR CROP INSURANCE

RAIN AND HAILCrop insurance is our core business. Our history, focus, and commitment to the business for more than 90 years provides the reliability, expertise, and trust you can depend on.

Rain and Hail has the financial strength and resources you can depend on to best service your customers’ policies.

Our experience, focus, and innovation keeps our support and tools evolving so we can provide the service you and your customers can rely on.