Braun, Panelists Vow to Protect Crop Insurance Provision
Published: Friday, September 2, 2022
Farming representatives gathered on the campus of Huntington University last Wednesday to discuss the upcoming farm bill. Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.); Randy Kron, president of Farm Bureau Insurance; State Rep. Dave Heine (R- District 85); Jason Williamson, treasurer of Crop Insurance Professionals Assn.; and Brian Warpup, a member of the Indiana Soybean Alliance board, all gave their thoughts on the subject.
Rob Winters, WOWO farm director and the event's moderator, started the conversation with crop insurance, which Braun described as possibly the No. 1 issue farmers are concerned with.
"With food security and all the different things that involve farming, it is a lot riskier now than it ever used to be. I hear no discussion that we're going to tamper with that (crop insurance)," he said. "When it comes to crop insurance, I don't expect any drama there."
Williamson, who is a principal agent at Williamson Crop Insurance in Ohio, is happy with the current way crop insurance is working.
"It's a public-private partnership that has worked very, very well between the government and the private sector," Williamson said. He says that over 90 percent of row crops are federally insured and the program uses only .2 percent of the federal budget.
"We have the strongest, safest food supply in the world, and I think crop insurance plays a vital part in that, and we just want to make sure it stays like that," he added.
Williamson noted that he had been hearing of some possible changes being applied to crop insurance that he thought would more appropriately go under conservation.
"I don't think we're going to see much different," Braun said. It is important to him to keep an eye out for "quid pro quo" policies and to call them out before they become amended.
As it is originating in the House of Representatives, the Senate hasn't yet seen the proposal for the 2023, Braun said.
Williamson is optimistic that farmers are very capable "CEOs." His concern is that farmers are always on the defensive when it comes to crop insurance.
Braun said that he is optimistic about the government system was intended to incorporate the latitude of states to craft their own pathways, and that the values of faith, family and community will always win. His concern is that not many on the ag committee are involved in farming.
"I think that it is good that farmers and organizations err on the side of trying to flush anything out before something descends upon you in a package that you may not be happy with," he added.
Kron also weighed in on the subject.
"We just got done putting out our most expensive crop that I've ever had in 38 years of farming, and to have a safety net is so critical," he said.
The Farm Bureau leader stressed the importance of transferring farms with crop insurance to the next generation and forming and keeping good relationships with representatives on the ag committee.
Winters said farmers are wary about having crop insurance being tied to regulations that could hurt their crop production and affect their ability to qualify for it. He uses the example of cover crops, which when first introduced made farmers skeptical, but because they were encouraged through initiatives rather than addendums, farmers are much more open to them now.
Warpup jumped in, saying he farms land about 15 miles away from Huntington University, agrees with Kron.
"You want crop insurance, but attaching so many other aspects to that -whether that be conservation, tillage or whatever,—sometimes that just doesn't work on every acre. One size box doesn't fit every farm, every size of farm or every location," he said.
Another topic that came up was that climate-smart agriculture is not a well-enough defined term to gain much confidence from farmers.
"There needs to be more research done on that," Kron said, "Farmers will do the right thing, but there needs to be more research because what works on one person's farm doesn't work on the next."
Switching gears, Winters turned to Heine and asked him to address the issue of broadband in Indiana.
"In Northeast Indiana, especially Allen County, we're told we have broadband. But as any farmer here can tell you, we don't have broadband," Heine said.
Many of the maps used by telecommunications companies are saying this region has broadband service, even though residents are reporting that they don't have access to the internet Heine said. However, the FCC is going to come out with infrastructure maps this fall, he added, that will accurately document broadband in the area.
"It should be high-speed internet, not broadband, and it should be fiber-optic," Braun said. "That's got to be the discussion because a lot of the other things that they're throwing into that mix will not give you the kind of speed you really need."
Until fiber-optic, high speed internet is used, Braun says young couples will not be enticed into moving out into the country and onto farms.
Moving to political impact, Braun said that if the Republican Party wins back the House of Representatives, they will "put a tourniquet on all the craziness" associated with farming and conservation.
Other topics covered at the meeting included: taxes, the supply chain, agricultural research and development, the disconnect between Washington and farmers, and political control of the farm bill.
Each speaker described what they were optimistic about and what concerns they had for the 2023 Farm Bill.
Warpup is concerned that the average farmer age is 59 years old and younger people are moving toward the East Coast.
Kron is optimistic about the ability of Hoosier farmers to adapt to their circumstances. His concern is the social license to continue to farm due to those who make the regulations having never been on a farm.
Heine said he is optimistic that those who are underserved and cannot get broadband will be getting it. His concern is that it won't be as soon as people would like.
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