Ag Insurance Update – 4Q15

This Spring and Summer have been another season of highs and lows with many things to be thankful for, but at the same time we realize through events in our lives that we are not in control and not promised a life without struggles and difficulties. Through it all, I continue to believe that we are blessed as a family, blessed to live in this area of great people and great communities, and blessed to live in this country.

As harvest approaches we can look back on a growing season that has provided our area with abundant rainfall and our crops appear to be in excellent condition. Unfortunately, we also had some areas that received some very damaging hail and winds. The producers that were severely damaged in some cases lost multiple fields of growing crops that were very close to totally destroyed and a few fields were completely wiped out. Although this is very discouraging, we have been able to show that with the right insurance products in place, financially these producers should have a year very close to what it would have been with no crop damage. This gives us a very good feeling and is why we do what we do.

With wheat planting just around the corner, please remember that September 30th is the last day to make changes to your wheat policy for the 2016 crop year if you have anything that has changed in your operation or if you desire to make other adjustments. In the Spring of 2015, as a result of the new Farm Bill, we were able to offer a few new options to the multi-peril coverage policy for Spring crops. Those options are now available for wheat beginning with the 2016 crop year.

– Separate Coverage Level elections for irrigated and non-irrigated acreage: This allows you to choose different coverage levels by practice.

-Separate Enterprise Units for irrigated and non-irrigated acreage: This allows you to choose separate enterprise unit coverage by practice. Both practices must qualify for enterprise unit separately.
-Yield Exclusion: This election allows you to exclude any recorded or appraised yield for any crop year where the per-planted acre yield in the county is at least 50% below the simple average for the crop in the county for the previous 10 consecutive crop years.

These, along with several other Farm Bill changes, provide the producer with additional risk management tools to utilize. Please let us know if you are interested in learning more or would like to discuss making changes on your policy.

Wheat is currently in the price setting period and will be completed on September 15. It is currently tracking at $5.29 and has a volatility factor of .23 which is a high volatility.

We try to keep you informed and updated on what is happening and what is needed at this time of year for you to keep your policy in good shape. With all of the constant changes as well as changing regulations in crop insurance, to make sure your policy is how you need it this is definitely not a “set and forget” type of insurance. We are here to help.

Thank you again for your confidence in us and for your business. I consider it an honor to be able to work for great people in a great industry.