Senate crop insurance reforms face opposition by House panel

Crop insurance

Challenges to changes made by U.S. House Agriculture Committee. The two new reforms for crop insurance that had received Senate approval have been challenged by the U.S. House Agriculture Committee, forming yet another dispute on the farm bill, as time for enacting the new law comes ever closer to running out. Aside from this disagreement, the House also seeks to boost price supports for crops by up to 40 percent. On the other hand, the Senate would prefer to cease the subsidies altogether. The preference of the House is to…

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Crop insurance helps farmers and insurers alike

Crop Insurance

These policies, subsidized by the federal government, help protect against losses. When plants fail to grow or are damaged by poor or severe weather, or even when prices plummet, the government is footing the majority of the bill through a crop insurance program for farmers. This coverage helps both the growers and the insurers who write the policies. It functions by providing subsidies to the farmers and the insurers in the case that losses from crops should grow too large. These subsidies are partially paid for by taxpayer dollars. The…

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Over $1 million in crop insurance premiums paid to U.S. farms in 2011

Crop insurance

Environmental Working Group now requesting reduction in growers’ subsidies from Congress. The Environmental Working Group (EWG), an organization based in Washington, has performed an analysis that has shown that just over 24 U.S. farm operations received more than $1 million in crop insurance premiums payments – each – in 2011, and it has now made a call to Congress to decrease those growers’ subsidies. Policyholders numbering over 100,000 received at least $100,000 each in insurance premium subsidies. The EWG explained in a statement that its calculations were based on records…

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