A report commissioned by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) says that the federal crop insurance program over-compensated Corn Belt farmers by $7.8 billion during the 2012 drought. Insurance payouts that year totaled $14 billion whereas $6.2 billion would have been …
Former American International Group Inc. chief Maurice “Hank” Greenberg has a new business partner: the U.S. taxpayer. Greenberg’s Starr Indemnity & Liability Co. is one of 18 companies approved to get federal cash for insuring farmers against loss of crops …
A Depression-era program intended to save the nation’s farmers from ruin has grown into a 21st- century crutch enabling affluent growers and financial institutions to thrive at U.S. taxpayer expense. Federal crop insurance encourages farmers to gamble on risky plantings …
The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives needs to solve its farm bill impasse by enacting the Senate’s bipartisan bill, Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Monday, warning that the Democrat-run Senate will not extend current law again. The House defeated …
A drop in the price of corn, rice and other crops may trigger so much additional aid to farmers under a bill being considered by the U.S. House that it would wipe out the bill’s projected savings in crop subsidies, …
Federal investigators have unraveled a massive scheme among dozens of insurance agents, claims adjusters, brokers and farmers in eastern North Carolina to steal at least $100 million from the government-backed program that insures crops. Authorities say the ongoing investigation is …
A coalition of fiscal conservatives on Tuesday called for a steep cut in federal subsidies for crop insurance, setting up a clash with U.S. farm groups that see the program as their top priority in a new farm bill. Growers …
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently named four new members of the Federal Crop Insurance Corp. (FCIC) board of directors. The new appointees are James Bardenhagen, Iris Saenz, John F. Finston, and Kenneth Ray Sneed. They joined the FCIC board in …
Starr Indemnity & Liability Co. has received approval from the Risk Management Agency of the United States Department of Agriculture to participate as an Approved Insurance Provider in the federal multi-peril crop insurance program for 2013. Starr Indemnity & Liability …
Dry weather should continue through at least the end of January in the drought-stricken U.S. Plains and a blast of Arctic cold air in the Midwest early next week poses a threat to unprotected livestock and possibly some wheat, an …
