skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

New Farm Insurance Option Makes Crop Diversification More Appealing

play audio
Play

Wednesday, September 6, 2017   

COLUMBIA, Mo. - An alternative to traditional farm insurance is catching the attention of the agriculture community throughout the Midwest.

In farming - as in investing - diversification is encouraged, but farmers who produce additional crops, such as watermelons and sweet corn, often have found insurance to be lacking or nonexistent. A pilot program from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Risk Management Agency, known as Whole-Farm Revenue Protection, is helping to change that.

Cora Fox, a policy program associate for the Center for Rural Affairs, said farms with a minimum of three commodities can receive up to 85 percent coverage - and it isn't only for niche markets and specialty crops.

"It really rewards diversification on a farm," she said. "So, for something like a major commodity grower, you could have corn, soybeans and wheat and still utilize Whole-Farm Revenue Protection, and get that 85 percent coverage level."

Diversification has been shown to protect soil, improve water quality, reduce the need for pesticides and cut energy usage. Fox said she is hopeful that Whole-Farm Revenue Protection will prompt more farmers to diversify their operations.

Kelly Jackson, general manager of Daniels Produce in Columbus, Neb., said her father farmed corn and soybeans until floods in 1982, 1983, and 1984 prompted his move into the fresh vegetable market. Still, they faced years in which entire crops were lost or insurance would only reimburse them for a predetermined commodity price that often was lower than the crop's true value.

"But 'Whole Farm' goes off of historically what I have produced, and historically what I've sold my product for," she said.

The pilot project is aimed not only at protecting the environment and assisting individual farms but at building more resilient rural communities.

USDA information about Whole Farm Revenue Protection is online at rma.usda.gov.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021