The 2015 Crop Insurance & Reinsurance Bureau Annual Meeting is underway in Bonita Springs, FL. That’s where you hold a meeting this time of year! I grew up about 2 hours north of here. So, registration is underway, the board is meeting and we have the opening reception is coming up soon. This is my first time attending and we’re …
Deere to Sell Crop Insurance Business to FMH
Deere & Company has announced an agreement to sell its crop insurance business, subject to regulatory approval, to Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Company (FMH) of West Des Moines, Iowa. The action is a result of Deere’s previously announced review of strategic options for the crop insurance business. The agreement will result in Deere selling both John Deere Insurance Company and …
Specialty Crop Growers to Get Better Insurance
Growers of fruits, vegetables and other specialty crops will get some better protection courtesy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This USDA news release says the agency will now provide greater protection from the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program for crops that traditionally have been ineligible for federal crop insurance as part of the 2014 Farm Bill. “These new …
Country Financial at Farm Progress Show
At the Farm Progress Show last month, we learned more about the services Country Financial offers for farmers and ranchers from Kristin Kramer and Julie Walters. Kristin says Country Financial realizes that farming is a risky business and there are many ways to limit further issues and protect your farm. “I like to think of everybody like my dad,” Kristin …
AgFanatics Talk Crop Insurance
With co-host Nick Klump under the weather last week, Cory Winstead picked GROWMARK plant food risk management analyst Graham Utter to guest host AgFanatics episode #9 on Crop Insurance. The guys talk Crop Insurance and bring in the expert Bob Dewey of Country Financial to discuss and answer some questions. They discuss things from Revenue Protection to base price and …
Farm Credit – Working For Producers
Whether it’s managing risk associated with high prices, a drought or the lack of a farm bill, Farm Credit Services of America shared with us at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting’s Trade Talk that producers are always #1 in their mind. Doug Stark, President and CEO of Farm Credit Services of America, spoke with me about how producers can …
Cast Your Hambone Award Vote
This is just too good to pass up. It’s the VPI Pet Insurance Hambone Award. It’s that time of year again to crown America’s weirdest pet insurance claim with VPI’s Hambone Award! From the cat that survived a 15-mile ride under the hood of a car to a potbellied pig that troughed through a medicine cabinet and lived to oink …
FAPRI Looks at Farm Bills’ Differences, Impacts
A new analysis of the two Farm Bills out there … the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012 that passed the full Senate in June and the House’s Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2012, which made it out of the House Ag Committee last month … shows some similar impacts of the two bills, especially …
Farms Threatened by Federal Tax Changes
If the combination of extreme drought and historically hot temperatures isn’t giving farmers enough to worry about this summer, sweeping changes to the federal wealth transfer tax system are looming large. Yet, many family farmers are not aware of the full implications of these possible changes – including losing their farms. “Few farmers fully understand there is a limit to …
Weatherbill Supplementing Federal Crop Insurance
Jeff Hamlin is the Director of Agronomic Research for Weatherbill. At the Ag Media Summit I met Jeff and learned “what is Weatherbill?” Jeff says “We provide weather insurance that pays farmers for the types of bad weather events that cost them yield.” He says their product is designed to work along with the federal crop insurance as a supplement …