Acting RMA administrator urges crop insurance industry to promote benefits
February 11, 2013 | 06:31 PM
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — The industry needs to do a more aggressive job of convincing the American public that crop insurance is a wise public investment, the acting administrator of the Risk Management Agency told crop insurance agency officials here in speeches today and on Friday.
Brandon Willis
“We are at a crossroads. We have a program that is more important but yet it is a target,” said Brandon Willis, who was appointed acting administrator about a month ago after RMA Administrator Bill Murphy retired.
Willis, a Utah native, is a former aide to Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., who served as a Farm Service Agency deputy administrator and senior adviser in the office of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
Willis told the American Association of Crop Insurers today and the Crop Insurance and Reinsurance Bureau on Friday that the public should appreciate crop insurance because it makes sure that most of the food Americans consume continues to be produced domestically and that the food export industry continues to prosper.
Willis described the program as a highly successful way to help farmers in times of trouble, and noted that before the program was established Congress used to pass ad hoc disaster programs.
“The lack of calls for disaster assistance speaks volumes to the effectiveness of the crop insurance program,” he said.
The government pays about 62 percent of the cost of the crop insurance program, with farmers paying the rest. As commodity prices have risen, the cost of premiums has risen, and so have government outlays for those premiums. That has made the program a target for members of Congress and outside groups looking for ways to save money.
Willis did not say exactly how the crop insurance industry should build alliances that will continue, but he did note that it will take an alliance of farm groups and anti-hunger advocates to pass a new farm bill.
A strong crop insurance program also will encourage more young people to go into farming, he said.
“If having a food supply is in our nation’s interest … we need the best and brightest to be engaged in agriculture, providing that food for us,” he said. “Without crop insurance we will not get the best and brightest back on our farms.”
The reason, he told the group, is because of the high risk and intensive capital involved in farming.
Willis also said he wants to continue to expand the program to cover more crops. Two areas he cited for growth are livestock and the organic sector.
A pasture and grazing range pilot project is covering 48 million acres, but there are 580 million acres of pasture and range that are eligible, he said. Of the 2 million acres in organic agriculture, only about one quarter are insured, he added.
Willis said the program needs support from coast to coast.
“We cannot afford a program that does not work for everybody,” he said.
Willis said he would try to protect the program by keeping fraud and abuse as low as possible and through efficient management, but that the industry needs to promote the program with the general public.
“We are at a crossroads. We have a program that is more important but yet it is a target,” said Brandon Willis, who was appointed acting administrator about a month ago after RMA Administrator Bill Murphy retired.
Willis, a Utah native, is a former aide to Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., who served as a Farm Service Agency deputy administrator and senior adviser in the office of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
Willis told the American Association of Crop Insurers today and the Crop Insurance and Reinsurance Bureau on Friday that the public should appreciate crop insurance because it makes sure that most of the food Americans consume continues to be produced domestically and that the food export industry continues to prosper.
Willis described the program as a highly successful way to help farmers in times of trouble, and noted that before the program was established Congress used to pass ad hoc disaster programs.
“The lack of calls for disaster assistance speaks volumes to the effectiveness of the crop insurance program,” he said.
The government pays about 62 percent of the cost of the crop insurance program, with farmers paying the rest. As commodity prices have risen, the cost of premiums has risen, and so have government outlays for those premiums. That has made the program a target for members of Congress and outside groups looking for ways to save money.
Willis did not say exactly how the crop insurance industry should build alliances that will continue, but he did note that it will take an alliance of farm groups and anti-hunger advocates to pass a new farm bill.
A strong crop insurance program also will encourage more young people to go into farming, he said.
“If having a food supply is in our nation’s interest … we need the best and brightest to be engaged in agriculture, providing that food for us,” he said. “Without crop insurance we will not get the best and brightest back on our farms.”
The reason, he told the group, is because of the high risk and intensive capital involved in farming.
Willis also said he wants to continue to expand the program to cover more crops. Two areas he cited for growth are livestock and the organic sector.
A pasture and grazing range pilot project is covering 48 million acres, but there are 580 million acres of pasture and range that are eligible, he said. Of the 2 million acres in organic agriculture, only about one quarter are insured, he added.
Willis said the program needs support from coast to coast.
“We cannot afford a program that does not work for everybody,” he said.
Willis said he would try to protect the program by keeping fraud and abuse as low as possible and through efficient management, but that the industry needs to promote the program with the general public.
