Conferences
Collaborative Efforts to Address Barriers to Crop Insurance Adoption
Erin Roche, Jennifer Ifft, and Jake Jacobs
Summary
Crop insurance can be a critical risk management tool; however northeastern farmers enroll in crop insurance at far lower rates than most other regions.
This session will present collaborative efforts among northeastern RMA Targeted States programs to address crop insurance adoption barriers through programming and efforts to improve existing products. Our vision is to work together to support risk management education for diverse northeastern farms, while leveraging our expertise to make crop insurance work better in the region. Presenters will explain specific barriers to enrollment based on feedback from farmers, strategies employed to improve adoption, and methods for measuring impact.
One barrier is a perception that premiums are too high and farmers lack information on premium costs and benefits. To reach young farmers who prefer web-based decision tools before interacting with agents, Cornell developed a user-friendly “What-If” tool that estimates net benefits and indemnities under different yield and price outcomes. Additionally, UMaine created various farmer perspective pieces on crop insurance that include actual premium costs and subsidy rates. Impacts were measured by recording direct inquires from farmers, evaluations and website analytics.
Next, Targeted States programming activities often lead to the realization that certain products fail to meet producer needs. In response to barriers to Whole Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) adoption, a group of Targeted States developed a detailed proposal for specific programmatic changes or solutions for increasing WFRP adoption. Through this novel proposal, the group has engaged RMA to improve WFRP and to increase availability of multi-peril crop insurance products.
Presentation Materials
Details
| Conference | 2018 Extension Risk Management Education National Conference |
| Presentation Type | 30-Minute Concurrent |