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By Julia Barton
CROP INSURANCE FOR EVERYONE
The OEFFA farmer working group wants crop
Crop insurance is a topic that typically makes people’s
insurance to be more fair, and urges the following key
eyes glaze over, but luckily OEFFA farmers aren’t typical.
recommendations:
For the past year, the Ohio Ecological Food & Farming
Each operation should receive one subsidy and no
Association (OEFFA), a founding organizational member
more. The farm bill should include a strong “actively
of the Organic Farmers Association, has led a Crop
engaged in farming rule” to set this limit so farmers
Insurance Work Group made up of dedicated, motivated,
who are trying to “double dip” with multiple “paper
and technically astute farmers who devoted significant
farms” are prevented from cheating.
time last winter to make crop insurance more fair,
Crop insurance should only apply to land that is
functional, and informed. And they’re not alone.
suitable to be farmed. The farm bill should prohibit
crop insurance premium subsidies on unsuitable
With a changing climate, many farmers who haven’t
land. Taxpayers should not subsidize irresponsible
previously engaged with crop insurance recognize the
land management.
need to have a farmer safety net that works for everyone.
Groups like the National Sustainable Agriculture
The farm bill can better support beginning farmers with
Coalition, which has long worked on crop insurance
less costly crop insurance policies, continue to support
issues, the National Organic Coalition, and others are
the majority of farmers with policies valued between
working together to hold public institutions accountable
$10,000-$100,000, and reduce the rate of support for
for supporting farmers, particularly organic, sustainable,
the largest farms holding policies costing more than
and regenerative farmers. In good company, Organic
$100,000.
Farmers Association farmer -members have voted on a
number of policy positions calling for crop insurance
reform over the years.
CROP INSURANCE SHOULD BE FAIR TO
FARMERS AND THE BROADER
COMMUNITY
CROP INSURANCE SHOULD BE
FUNCTIONAL IN SUPPORTING SMALL,
DIVERSIFIED FARMERS, AND FARMERS
USING ORGANIC AND REGENERATIVE
PRACTICES
Crop insurance is designed to serve conventional
While crop insurance works well for a few commodity
farmers, so its policies align with conventional
crops, it does not currently serve the broader
commodity agriculture practices. But organic farmers
community of organic, sustainable, and regenerative
have
farmers. It also takes advantage of taxpayers,
accountable and farm in partnership with ecological
subsidizing the cost of crop insurance for large farms
at the same rate it does a small, beginning farmer.
additional
standards
to
which
they
are
systems, and regenerative farmers are also working
within those ecological systems.
To better serve them, OEFFA producers offer the
following recommendations to make crop insurance
more functional for organic, transitioning, and familyscale diversified farms:
Interested in crop insurance and want to learn
Organic producers often plant later than their nonorganic counterparts due to strategic organic
systems
management.
The
USDA’s
Risk
Management Agency (RMA) must establish a
unique final planting date for certified organic
crops in each region with a non-penalizing grace
period so producers can maintain productivity and
organic status.
more? You’re in good company. Check out these
resources on crop insurance for organic farmers.
Join the OFA Crop Insurance working group
this winter as we continue to hone our
positions and work together at creating
change.
julia@organicfarmersassociation
to
get
connected!)
Organic producers should use the transition
period to develop an organic management system
and write their Organic System Plan (OSP) in
conjunction with their application for organic
certification.
CROP INSURANCE RESOURCES FOR
ORGANIC FARMERS
RMA
should
provide
organic
insurance to producers transitioning to certified
organic status without requiring an OSP.
Crop Insurance for Organics: A Short Course
from our colleagues at the Organic Agronomy
Training Service (OATS)
The Center for Rural Affairs covers a range of
crop insurance topics and features a variety of
resources
The Land Stewardship Project has long worked
to improve crop insurance and has a variety of
A clear, transparent, consistent path for organic
transition and crop insurance must be established.
resources including this article on the Crop
Insurance Conundrum
As the USDA invests $300 million in organic
transition,
transitioning
operators
must
be
Create an Enterprise Unit (EU) by Practice Type
CROP INSURANCE SHOULD BE
INFORMED BY DATA, EXPERIENCE, AND
TECHNICAL EXPERTISE
option for organic status. This would enable
In order for crop insurance to support currently
operators to group their organic, transitional, and
underserved farmers, information must be gathered
non-organic land separately so that each type
regarding how to do better and shared among agencies
could be both managed and insured appropriately.
and RMA staff and agents on the ground.
supported through a streamlined farm safety net.
USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service
Whole Farm Revenue Protection, a type of crop
(NASS) and RMA should work together to regularly
insurance intended to serve small and diversified
conduct an organic production survey. This data will
producers, must be tweaked to better support
help inform crop insurance practices and needs.
diversified producers through lower premium
Expand
costs associated with higher levels of diversity, and
Conservation Service (NRCS) technical capacity and
true revenue protection for operations already
cooperative agreements to support adoption of soil
mitigating
health plans. Soil health efforts should go hand-in-
systems.
risk
through
diverse
production
the
USDA’s
Natural
hand with crop insurance support.
Resources
Require organic literacy within RMA to help
insurance in order to better serve organic clients and
WHO’S TALKING ABOUT CROP
INSURANCE IN PREPARATION FOR THE
FARM BILL?
grow
industry.
These marker bills, ways of floating ideas for inclusion
Transitioning and organic producers deserve the
in the giant 2023 Farm Bill legislation, present
same level of service their non-organic counterparts
solutions that could help crop insurance work better.
employees and agents be informed about organic
the
benefits
of
the
organic
receive. RMA needs to inform its staff and provide
ongoing
training
for
agents
serving
organic
producers.
Farm
Revenue
Protection
Program
Improvement Act of 2023: The purpose of this act
Many of these recommendations have been included in
two Farm Bill marker bills:
Insuring Fairness for Family Farmers Act (S.
2421/H.R.
Whole
4804),
which
aims
to
reform
administrative and operation expenses within the
crop insurance program, and revise the standard and
livestock price reinsurance agreements.
Crop Insurance for Future Farmers Act (H.R. 3904),
which aligns the definition of “beginning farmer” to
match most other USDA programs, extending crop
and livestock insurance protections to 10 years for
new and beginning farmers.
is to improve the Whole Farm Revenue Protection
Program which is intended to provide crop
insurance for more diversified producers.
Farm Program Integrity Act of 2023: This bill is
intended to close loopholes in the various farm
payment
systems
to
ensure
taxpayers
are
supporting only those truly “actively engaged in
farming.” This bill would create a cap of $250,000
annually in total commodity support for any single
farm
operation
and
would
require
subsidy
recipients to be working farmers that spend at
least half of the year in farm operations.
Insuring Fairness for Family Farmers Act of 2023:
We’re all paying for crop insurance, and it’s up to us to
work together to ensure crop insurance works for
everyone!
This act is intended to reform the current crop
insurance policies to incentivize crop insurance
agents to provide coverage to small and diversified
(specialty crop) farmers by revising the way crop
OFA members have long identified crop insurance as a
insurance agent commissions are calculated.
priority and we’re eager to dig into this work and build
Crop Insurance for Future Farmers Act of 2023:
community
future
This act would align the definition of “beginning
opportunities from OFA to work together to identify
farmer” in the crop insurance programs with other
problems, brainstorm solutions, and amplify farmer
USDA
voices.
insurance protections for beginning farmers to the
around
this
topic.
Look
for
programs
which
would
extend
crop
first 10 years of farming.
If you’re in OEFFA’s region and would like to get involved
in this important work, contact policy@oeffa.org.
This article was updated and slightly modified from an article
published in OEFFA’s newsletter in Spring 2023. We
appreciate OEFFA’s leadership on Crop Insurance and thank
them for allowing us to reprint with updates.
Learn more about the marker bills OFA
is tracking that may impact organic
farming, and check back regularly for
updates as Farm Bill conversations
continue in D.C.
OFA’S CROP INSURANCE PRIORITIES
OFA farmers have identified several priorities related to
Crop Insurance. We will be workshopping these ideas
this winter as part of an OFA Crop Insurance working
group. Join us to hone these ideas and add yours. We
need your help to make crop insurance work for
everyone!
OFA supports the following improvements to crop
insurance programs:
Any practice approved in a farmer’s Organic System
Plan by a USDA-accredited certifying agent as
compliant with organic production standards must
be recognized and approved as a “Good Farming
Practice” as defined by the Risk Management Agency
(RMA).
The development of new crop insurance tools that
serve the needs of diversified organic growers
serving all types of markets, including direct sales,
that have a streamlined application process and
prioritize low paperwork burden.
Allowing organic farmers to use organic prices for all
federal farmer support programs.
The development of additional organic price
elections for crop insurance coverage, and review of
policies that cap Contract Price Addendums at twotimes the conventional price election for any specific
crop.
Allowing organic transition producers and beginning
farmers to calculate the Actual Production History
The
continuation
of
Whole-Farm
Revenue
Protection, established in the 2014 Farm Bill, and
recognize the change in farm revenue after a farm
has transitioned to organic. Raise the cap to 50%
on
increased
production
value
under
the
expansion provision.
The development of organic price elections for
storage loans offered by Farm Service Agency so
that producers can access working capital based
on the actual value of their crops to cash flow their
operations. Utilize existing organic price data
developed by RMA to establish storage loan
prices.
Organic farmers must have a crop rotation, which
is not currently well supported by Crop Insurance.
We need crop insurance coverage, not just in the
form of written agreements, for crops besides
corn, beans, wheat, and rice. Further, we need a
way for organic farmers to be supported, rather
than penalized (through the APH system) for
enacting a robust and extended rotation both
during transition and as organic producers.
Farmers need a way to manage risk due to genetic
and pesticide drift contamination. If these
situations could be recognized as a qualifying
event for crop insurance, farmers suffering from
loss wouldn’t be required to identify a source,
which isn’t always possible. More support from
USDA to protect farmers from these types of
contamination and to deter the practice of drift is
necessary.
Yield (APH) for new acres or acres under organic
transition using the APH of other organic acres on
their farm, rather than the county T-Yield for the
acres under transition.
Julia Barton is OFA’s Farmer Services
Director. Before joining the team, Julia
Barton worked as the Organic Policy
Specialist with OEFFA where she supported
farmers transitioning to organic for 9 years.
She and her husband run Octagon Acres,
an organic vegetable operation and
homestead in northeastern Ohio.
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