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RMA says crop insurance system strong

Despite threats on Capitol Hill to cut crop insurance – USDA’s Risk Management Agency says the system will most likely remain strong. Tim Gannon, the RMA’s associate administrator, says the 2014 Farm Bill established expanded crop insurance products and coverage levels.

And, Gannon says, with crop insurance, producers themselves are invested, “Congress has kind of pointed to us that since they’re unwilling to pass large disaster packages in this day and age that the producer has to assume some of that risk management and crop insurance has been the way to do that.”

Gannon says one of the measures of how government programs are run is the improper payment rate, “And in fiscal year 2015, we reported our improper payment rate at 2.2% which is well below the government average and is the lowest that the crop insurance program has had in over a decade. So, we think that that’s a very good sign of the program and its health and how well run it has been.”

Gannon says there’s a lot of attention on crop insurance because of its size and the number of people that depend on it. Gannon spoke with farm broadcasters at the 2016 NAFB Washington Watch in D.C.