Brownfield, MO
04-27-08
Kansas farm leader: crop insurance ineffective
by Matt Gamewell
As the Federal Government prepares for a possible 2007 Farm Bill, the fate of
many farm programs is already in question. Chief among them: crop insurance.
So the House Agriculture subcommittee on general farm commodities and risk
management took up the issue in hearings Wednesday on Capitol Hill.
Kansas Congressman Jerry Moran (R-1st), the Chairman of the Subcommittee,
welcomed a wide-range of witnesses to testify on the current state of the federal
crop insurance program. Among those who testified were North Dakota Governor
Mike Hoeven, Kansas Farm Bureau President Steve Baccus and Steven Pigg of
the National Corn Growers Association. In addition, academia was represented
by Dr. Chad Hart of Iowa State University and Dr. Art Barnaby of Kansas State
University.
Though the total of ten panelists represented a wide range of agricultural
interests, they found common ground in the need for changes to the crop
insurance program.
“Without price competition, crop insurance has become ineffective, inefficient and
unresponsive,” said Steve Baccus, President of the Kansas Farm Bureau and
also a fourth-generation farmer in Minneapolis, KS. “The cost of crop insurance
in Kansas has risen so much, primarily due to six years of drought, that it limits
the number of producers who can participate at the level necessary to provide
them the protection that is required to continue their operations.”
Baccus also stressed the dysfunctional nature of the how crop insurance is
structured and applied. “It’s rigid and cumbersome,” he said, “and needs to be
simplified and made much more efficient.” In his testimony, he stressed the need
for a free-market approach. “It is essential to a strong, vital crop insurance
industry that companies are allowed to operate like a free enterprise system and
to compete on prices as well as service.”
Governor Mike Hoeven knows firsthand the importance of crop insurance and
disaster assistance after his state has endured so many recent weather
incidents. His testimony was part of a busy day in Washington visiting both the
Senate and House of Representatives on behalf of North Dakota farmers.
“Our producers have to be able to buy a level of coverage so they don’t go
backward 30, 35 or 40 percent,” he said. Without that coverage, he said: “They
have a disaster not only in their fields, but in their balance sheet.”
To continue the dialogue about crop insurance and other farm programs,
hearings hosted by the House Agriculture Committee will continue in Washington
and in rural communities around the country.