While farmers must make their decisions about purchasing crop insurance well before they plant, nearly 1.2 million policies have been processed through participating companies and Risk Management Agency as of Oct. 6, National Crop Insurance Services says.

Those policies protect nearly 293 million acres representing more than $109 billion in liabilities, accounting for nearly $3.9 billion in farmer paid premiums.

NCIS says these numbers will continue to grow as more policies are processed.

In 2013, farmers spent nearly $4.5 billion to purchase more than 1.2 million crop insurance policies, and 90% of planted cropland was protected by crop insurance.

Farmers and ranchers can purchase policies protecting 128 different crops, including nearly all major commodities and a long list of specialty crops including apricots, bananas, blueberries, cherries, coffee, olives and tangerines.

Farmers have spent more than $38 billion out of their own pockets to purchase crop insurance policies since 2000, NCIS says.

Source - http://farmfutures.com/