Crop Insurance

Educating state and national legislators about important issues for farmers is one of several goals for the Illinois Soybean Association. “One of the biggest things with the new farm bill coming up is keeping the crop insurance,” said Steve Pitstick.

Crop insurance protection, market access and nutrition programs were among the top priorities expressed in a farm bill listening session held during the Illinois State Fair’s Agriculture Day.

In 1970, Paul Samuelson became the first American awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. The honor came to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist because he had “simply rewritten considerable parts of economic theory.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that it will indefinitely extend the deadline for producers to return the pre-filled applications for Phase One of the Emergency Relief Program.

Finding points of commonality and developing strong partnerships between groups that may not always agree has been a strong suit in the Prairie State’s nutrient loss reduction efforts.

Although he has not found tar spot in his cornfields yet, Steve Pitstick will spray a fungicide for prevention of the disease. “We’ve had tar spot since 2018,” said Pitstick who farms about 5,000 acres of corn and soybeans near Maple Park in northern Illinois.

If the political polls are to be believed, November’s midterm election will sweep today’s Democrats out of power in the U.S. House of Representatives and put Republicans back in charge.

The Nature Conservancy and the Indiana State Department of Agriculture have partnered to implement the Upper White River Crop Insurance Incentive Program to help increase the amount of acres in the state that are planted in cover crops.

Federal crop insurance is arguably the first farm policy in history that is financed, in part, by the farmers who benefit from it.

Unless you’re an economist, an insurance guru, or a pension fund manager, chances are good you’re not overly familiar with the term actuarial soundness. In short, it’s a fancy way of saying “the math must work.”

U.S. crop insurance policies protected the country’s farmers and ranchers and ensured rural communities stayed strong in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, tornadoes, hurricanes and political unrest. In all, those policies protected 398 million acres of land in 2020.

Crop insurance is not acting as a barrier to the adoption of conservation practices and has a role in helping farmers maintain healthy soil. That’s according to a new peer-reviewed study in the Journal of Environmental Management.

As America’s farmers and ranchers reflect back on the past turbulent year, they’ll recall drought affecting much of America’s farmland, severe winds sweeping across Iowa, a record-breaking hurricane season and — oh, yes — the COVID-19 crisis.

The Indiana State Department of Agriculture, The Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency have joined forces to implement the Upper White River Crop Insurance Incentive Program.