Is the crop insurance alliance starting to fray around the edges?
WASHINGTON, Feb. 24, 2016 - When
Congress debated the 2014 farm bill, an unusual alliance between farm groups,
the insurance industry and conservation organizations was key to fighting off
attempts to cut the insurance program. But
there are signs that alliance might be fraying even before lawmakers start work
on the next farm bill.
At the very least, the industry has
work to do to ensure it will have supporters outside farm groups in fighting
coming attempts to impose a means test on the program, cap premium subsidies or
to cut returns to companies and agents.
During negotiations over the 2014 farm
bill, about a dozen conservation organizations or groups representing local and
state conservation agencies reached a deal with farm and insurance groups to
oppose cuts to the federal insurance program in return for the industry support
for re-linking conservation compliance to crop insurance.
A joint
letter and position statement
that the conservation organizations signed in 2013 declared opposition to “any
provisions that provide for means testing or payment limitations on crop
insurance premium assistance or indemnities. We also oppose any reduction in
premium subsidies.” An amendment to cut premium subsidies for farmers making
more than $750,000 a year had passed the Senate handily in 2012 and again in
2013, but with the united opposition the measure died quietly in conference
committee.
With an eye on building a similar
coalition as the insurance industry had in 2013, the president of the American
Association of Crop Insurers, David Graves, said he has started holding a
“series of small meetings that will grow in size.” But he says it’s too early
to have anything to report.
At least one
conservation group that signed the 2013 letter, Ducks Unlimited, is still
adhering to that deal. The group signed onto a letter with
farm groups last fall opposing the $3 billion in cuts to crop insurance that
were included in the budget deal between Congress and the White House.
“Ducks Unlimited believes our nation’s
farmers and ranchers need a strong safety net that is provided through crop
insurance,” said spokeswoman Tucker Clare Nelson. “We have honored and
will continue to honor the conservation compliance and crop insurance agreement
from the last farm bill, and will work with our friends in conservation and
agriculture to ensure that the farm bill that was just passed isn’t
opened up at this time.”
But another
group that was party to the 2013 deal, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation
Partnership, says it would consider further restrictions to crop insurance.
Whit Fosburgh, the group’s president
and CEO, said in a statement that “the time and place to make those changes is
in the next farm bill, with all of the stakeholders at the table. To that end,
we've started discussions with sportsmen, conservation, commodity, and
insurance groups about modifications that will save taxpayer dollars and
improve conservation outcomes while continuing to support working lands.” TRCP wouldn’t
name the other organizations with which the group is talking.
The National
Wildlife Federation is taking a neutral stance on proposed restrictions to crop
insurance. “Payment caps and means tests don’t
do anything for the environment, so we have stayed out of those battles,” said
Julie Sibbing, the group’s senior director of agriculture and forestry
programs.
Pheasants Forever hasn’t decided what
its policy will be. “It is my hope we can work closely within the conservation,
agricultural, and commodity communities to reach consensus on policies and
programs that mutually benefit farmers and ranchers as well as hunters and
other wildlife conservationists,” said Dave Nomsen, the group’s vice president
of government affairs.
The National Audubon Society is in the
process of developing its policy for the next farm bill. The group’s
legislative director, Brian Moore, says he thinks the crop insurance program
could be improved by factoring soil quality data and other measures into
coverage.
The
insurance industry is participating in an initiative by the think tank AGree,
which set up a task force that has developed strategies to
use crop insurance to increase adoption of conservation practices.
The Conservation
and Crop Insurance Task Force
is supporting research and analysis to
improve the understanding of the correlations between yield risk, soil type and
conservation practices, said AGree Executive Director Deborah Atwood. The group
will soon release some background papers that “are intended to contribute to
thoughtful dialogue,” she said. The views won’t represent official AGree
positions.
There could be attempts to cut crop
insurance as soon as this spring or summer, if the fiscal 2017 Agriculture
appropriations spending bills reach the House or Senate floor. But leaders of
the Senate and House Agriculture committees will try to delay the insurance debate
until they draft the next farm bill, likely starting in 2017. The 2014 bill is
set to expire Sept. 30, 2018.
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