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3. 2010 National Women in Agriculture Educators Conference

Challenges and Opportunities in teaching Crop Insurance

Sudeep Mathew

Summary

Crop Insurance is the primary risk management tool to protect farmers against unforeseen losses from natural disasters thereby increasing the viability of farming. Two major USDA agencies, RMA (Risk Management Agency) and FSA (Farm Service Agency) manage the programs where RMA alone covers policies for more than 100 crops. Also there is a crop insurance industry that facilitates the programs and is the key link between farmers and the federal safety net for agriculture. All this make crop insurance one of the most complex services which the clientele has to deal with. So there is an enormous need to educate the stake holders about functionality and applicability of these programs. 2008 Farm Bill changed farm risk management to an entirely different level by introducing two new major programs which has direct relationship with crop insurance. Between different farm programs, premium, coverage levels, subsidies and administrative costs, the process and programs are difficult to digest to make right choices. The presentation will discuss about the experience the educator faced while teaching and conducting crop insurance outreach programs in Maryland.

Details

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