Since 2014 saw pretty good production throughout the year, the federal program had to make far fewer payouts.
In terms of the overall 2014 growing year, the calculations by the Risk Management Agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture with regards to the federal crop insurance program have shown that last year saw a reduction in payments by 26 percent when compared to the figures from the year before.
The agency report showed in 2014, there was a total of $8.8 billion in payments for yield and price loss coverage.
That is notably lower than what it had been in 2013, when there had been yield and price loss payments of $12 billion paid out. Of the crop insurance payments that were made last year, the division among the major types of crop included $1.2 billion for soybeans, $1.6 billion for wheat, and $3.7 billion for corn. That said, it was possible for farmers to be able to take part in the federal coverage program if they had any of 128 different types of crop.
The report showed that there was quite a notable division in crop insurance payments among the states.
Of the $3.7 billion in insurance payments made for corn crops, $1.1 billion was paid out to Iowa farmers. Another $1 billion went to farmers who were located in Minnesota. Other states that ranked highly for corn coverage payouts were $339 million to growers in Nebraska, $166 million for those in North Dakota, and $163 for farmers in Illinois.
Of the $1.6 billion in wheat payments that were made for wheat crops, $400 million went to Kansas farmers, while farmers in North Dakota received $147 million. Among other states, payments included Nebraska’s $36 million, Illinois’s $27 million, and another $21 million in Missouri.
For soybean crop insurance that totaled $1.2 billion, the state receiving the most was Minnesota, where growers saw payments of $282 million. North Dakota growers were paid $104 million, Nebraska farmers received $93 million, Missouri payments totaled $48 million, and Illinois had $43 million in payouts. Those payments were all made from the federal program into which eligible farmers had been payment premiums, as well as through a federal government subsidy.
