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Protecting crop insurance

The president of Minnesota Farm Bureau emphasized the importance of crop insurance to lawmakers in Washington DC last week.

Kevin Paap says the risk management tool allows farmers to use crops as collateral.

“That private-public partnership of crop insurance and how important that is for all of agriculture; to use our crop as collateral and get those bank loans.”

Paap joined Farm Bureau leaders from across the country who had the opportunity to meet with House Ag Committee Chair Mike Conaway and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy among others.

“Both on the House and Senate side with their Ag Committees, to remind them how important (crop insurance) is to all farmers.”

The latest threat to crop insurance came earlier this month when President Obama released his fiscal year 2017 budget proposal that included $18 billion dollars in cuts to the federal program over 10 years.