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Growing pains for double crop insurance

Possible expansion of double crop insurance could have growing pains for farmers double cropping for the first time.

University of Illinois ag economist Gary Schnitkey says while expanding the double crop insurance area ‘may’ be good…

“If you ensure the full-season soybeans, you also insure the double crop soybeans,” he said.

Which Schnitkey tells Brownfield causes problems for first time double croppers because insurance guarantees will be set on transition yields without a double crop yield history.

“And that can often result in very low guarantees,” he said.

The proposed change would bring the insurance option to parts of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Texas; and add counties in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. Double crop insurance is already available to farmers in parts of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and Arkansas.