The National Crop Insurance Services (NCIS) recently released a new educational video to illustrate how Americans benefit from crop insurance and to push back on the tactics of farm policy opponents who try to misrepresent the facts surrounding crop insurance and other important facets of U.S. farm policy.
The video notes that these opponents continue to try to re-open the 2014 Farm Bill and make cuts that threaten to kill private sector delivery and crop insurance.
“[Farmers] collectively spend $4 billion a year out of their own pockets to purchase protection against floods, droughts, and severe storms and only receive assistance when they actually have a loss,” the video explained. “And, because private insurers deliver the system and help shoulder risk, taxpayers aren’t left footing the whole bill when disaster strikes.”
NCIS produced and published the video as Congress worked to restore cuts that were made during the most recent budget agreement. The provision to make crop insurance whole again was included in the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, otherwise known as the Highway bill, which was approved 359 to 65 in the U.S. House of Representatives, and 83 to 16 in the U.S. Senate.
As the video points out, farm policy is a small investment with an incredible rate of return. For every $100 the federal government spends, only about 25 cents goes to securing our national food and fiber supply. Crop insurance is one of the key components of this farm safety net and a responsible approach to minimizing the impact of large production losses due to natural disasters. Arbitrary budget cuts and ill-conceived legislation that jeopardize the viability of this risk management tool doesn’t just hurt farmers, it hurts everyone who eats.
Click here to watch the full video.