The Agriculture Department is another of the government bureacracy that needs a major overhaul. Food Stamps are a big issue and subsidies to not grow crops is another. This Crop Insurance fiasco is emblamatic of what needs to change.
farmers don’t profit from insurance because you can’t buy 100% coverage. If they had full crop to sell it would be much better than getting insurance payment of 60 to 85%. It not homeowners ins. it doesn’t make your completely whole it helps you pay you bill and start over next year. You Do Not get paid to not plant a crop! Lets seperate food stamps from farm bill then we could save real money.
The insurance companies made a killing but commissions to agents have been cut in half. And even with the issues of paying farmers not to grow certain crops, if the subsidies stop, the small time family farmer is going away. If that happens, look forward to paying astronomical prices for produce, soy products, cotton products and etc.. It costs a lot of money to prep, plant, maintain, and harvest a crop. When my husband farmed, there was a quota and base system for certain crops. Even with these programs and insurance, after all the bills were paid, there would be a very small percentage to live on for an entire year. Once we even had a negative income and had to borrow money to live on. Don’t begrudge a farmer for taking advantage of a system that gives them a little extra–that is incentive to keep farming. More and more family farmers, like my husband, have to give up farming because it becomes unfeasible financially. Of the farm bill, less than 10% if actual farming. The majority of the farm bill is food stamps. Perhaps they should separate the food stamps from the farm bill and address that. Then you would have a more accurate picture of how much really does go to help our farmers.
We NEVER made money from crop insurance farming. The coverage was barely enough to cover all the expenses. I know others may have figured out a way to abuse the system, but most of the smaller farmers I know do not.
The crop insurance agents have taken a substancial cut on commission (which was needed) and the companies have also reduced their costs. However, I agree that food stamps distorts the dollar amount paid out for agriculture subsidies. Food stamps is welfare-pure and simple. It should not be part of the ag subsidies. Also, people do not make a profit from crop insurance payments unless they are committing fraud. For the honest farmer, the claim payments help him to pay his bills and farm another year. If you speak to any farmer, they would much rather have the bushels to sell then collect on insurance. In regards to fraud, RMA and the state departments of insurances are not doing their job to police the program in some areas of the country. I do not know if they are understaffed, lazy or getting paid under neath the table. Also, government and the people of this country need to remember that safe food grown here is also a security issue. Farm subsidy is necessary to feed the nation and keep the farmers in business. Do you really want to depend on other countries for all or most of your food supply? Think of a scenario where we create an environment in which no one wants to farm any more and people sell their ground for purposes other than agriculture or to foreign investors (which is happening and should be stopped). Think of the scenarios that could happen to this country in that situation-food embargos on the US, scarcity of food items, etc. Don’t think this cannot happen as it is going on in other countries.
I thought you couldn’t profit from insurance?
The Agriculture Department is another of the government bureacracy that needs a major overhaul. Food Stamps are a big issue and subsidies to not grow crops is another. This Crop Insurance fiasco is emblamatic of what needs to change.
The government should not be involved with this program.
farmers don’t profit from insurance because you can’t buy 100% coverage. If they had full crop to sell it would be much better than getting insurance payment of 60 to 85%. It not homeowners ins. it doesn’t make your completely whole it helps you pay you bill and start over next year. You Do Not get paid to not plant a crop! Lets seperate food stamps from farm bill then we could save real money.
The insurance companies made a killing but commissions to agents have been cut in half. And even with the issues of paying farmers not to grow certain crops, if the subsidies stop, the small time family farmer is going away. If that happens, look forward to paying astronomical prices for produce, soy products, cotton products and etc.. It costs a lot of money to prep, plant, maintain, and harvest a crop. When my husband farmed, there was a quota and base system for certain crops. Even with these programs and insurance, after all the bills were paid, there would be a very small percentage to live on for an entire year. Once we even had a negative income and had to borrow money to live on. Don’t begrudge a farmer for taking advantage of a system that gives them a little extra–that is incentive to keep farming. More and more family farmers, like my husband, have to give up farming because it becomes unfeasible financially. Of the farm bill, less than 10% if actual farming. The majority of the farm bill is food stamps. Perhaps they should separate the food stamps from the farm bill and address that. Then you would have a more accurate picture of how much really does go to help our farmers.
We NEVER made money from crop insurance farming. The coverage was barely enough to cover all the expenses. I know others may have figured out a way to abuse the system, but most of the smaller farmers I know do not.
The crop insurance agents have taken a substancial cut on commission (which was needed) and the companies have also reduced their costs. However, I agree that food stamps distorts the dollar amount paid out for agriculture subsidies. Food stamps is welfare-pure and simple. It should not be part of the ag subsidies. Also, people do not make a profit from crop insurance payments unless they are committing fraud. For the honest farmer, the claim payments help him to pay his bills and farm another year. If you speak to any farmer, they would much rather have the bushels to sell then collect on insurance. In regards to fraud, RMA and the state departments of insurances are not doing their job to police the program in some areas of the country. I do not know if they are understaffed, lazy or getting paid under neath the table. Also, government and the people of this country need to remember that safe food grown here is also a security issue. Farm subsidy is necessary to feed the nation and keep the farmers in business. Do you really want to depend on other countries for all or most of your food supply? Think of a scenario where we create an environment in which no one wants to farm any more and people sell their ground for purposes other than agriculture or to foreign investors (which is happening and should be stopped). Think of the scenarios that could happen to this country in that situation-food embargos on the US, scarcity of food items, etc. Don’t think this cannot happen as it is going on in other countries.