Agroinsurance

India - Maharashtra announces monetary assistance for farmers

With only few days left before the election code of conduct comes into force for civic and zilla parishad polls, Maharashtra government on Tuesday took three major decisions for paddy, soyabean, and tur farmers. Maharashtra’s revenue, agriculture marketing, and relief and rehabilitation departments announced a financial incentive of Rs200 per quintal for paddy farmers, direct monetary grant of Rs200 per quintal for soyabean farmers, and ordered a revised survey to measure the damage to tur crop in parts of Vidarbha and Marathwada. The government also declared that farmers who have not enrolled for the Prime Minister’s Crop Insurance Scheme and whose crops have suffered damage due to floods would be paid 50% of the amount that they would be entitled to if they were covered under the scheme. Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Maharashtra’s relief and rehabilitation minister Chandrakant Patil said government resolutions for all these decisions were issued on 10 January. Patil said all these decisions had already been approved by the state cabinet and only government orders were issued on Tuesday. The election commission of Maharashtra is likely to announce schedule of polls to 26 zilla parishad (district council) bodies and 10 municipal corporations soon, according to state election commissioner J.S. Saharia. The code of conduct will come into effect immediately with the announcement of election programme that would cover a large part of the state. “Considering that 26 of the total 36 districts in the state go to polls, all these decisions impact a large population, especially farmers. These are policy and monetary decisions which could not have been taken if the election code of conduct was in force,” said an official from the state’s revenue department, requesting anonymity. The monetary incentive of Rs200 per quintal of paddy, with a cap of 50 quintals per farmer, would be paid by cheque over and above the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs1,470 per quintal for ordinary grade paddy and Rs1,510 per quintal for A grade variant. “The central government had ruled out raising the MSP when it was fixed. But there has been an increase in the input cost for paddy farmers in the state and this needs to be factored in when giving out the MSP. So the government has decided to pay an additional Rs200 per quintal with a ceiling of 50 quintals per farmers,” said the official adding that the government would bear the additional cost of Rs66 crore on this account. Only those paddy farmers who sell their crop during October 2016-March 2017 period would be eligible for this benefit. The government would pay a grant of Rs200 per quintal to soyabean farmers for the crop sold between 1 October and 31 December, 2016, at the purchase centres run by the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC). The grant would have a cap of 25 quintals per farmers. “We had a good monsoon in 2016 which led to an increase in area under soyabean cultivation. But high arrivals of soyabean caused a steep fall in the market price and caused losses to the farmers. This grant is aimed at offsetting this loss,” said an agriculture marketing department official seeking anonymity. Maharashtra is India’s second highest producer of soyabean after Madhya Pradesh and according to an estimate by the Soyabean Processors Association of India is likely to produce nearly 3.9 million tonnes in 2016-17. A large number of farmers in Vidarbha, Marathwada, and Khandesh regions of the state grow soyabean, and the total area under soyabean in the state in 2016 kharif season was nearly 3.6 lakh hectares. Source - http://www.livemint.com

India - Crop loss assessment gets under way

Vast stretches of withered paddy fields greeted the high-level team that took stock of the crop loss in Tiruvarur district, on Sunday. Farmers and farm workers met the team and poured out their grievances and sinking hopes. Heading the team, Food Minister R. Kamaraj assured farmers that the State Government was seized of the crisis due to inadequate rainfall and negligible flow in River Cauvery’s branches that have reduced agriculture to a farce in Tiruvarur district which is at the core delta region. Assessment at the field-level was under way across the State to ascertain the extent of crop loss and the consolidated reports would be submitted to Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam for further action and remedial measures. Farmers might have lost their crops but must not lose hope as the State Government would always stand by them in their hour of need, Mr. Kamaraj observed. Pointing out that when kuruvai over the years and this year’s samba paddy cultivation were in danger, late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had implemented special packages to help farmers tide over crises, Mr. Kamaraj promised that succour would come their way soon. At the same time, the State Government was also aware of the drinking water requirements of the town and cities as the summer was round the corner and was contemplating various measures to deal with the situation and avert any negative impact on the public, the Food Minister said. Social Welfare Secretary K. Manivasan and District Collector L. Nirmal Raj were part of the team. Enquiries with senior officials indicated that the State Government might even come out with a relief package essentially comprising cash component which will be helpful to farmers who have lost their paddy crops, on the lines of the 20012-13 when it sanctioned Rs. 15,000 an acre as compensation on account of drought. During that year, while Rs. 5,000 was disbursed as cash the balance Rs. 10,000 was granted as crop insurance damage claims advance and that amount was later adjusted when the actual compensation was calculated and disbursed. Sources say that the current exercise might lead to the State Government declaring relief compensation of at least Rs. 20,000 an acre for farmers who had suffered paddy crop loss. However, some sections of farmers opined that the ‘sham of high-level’ assessment was not at all required. It would serve only the ruling party’s publicity effort. Spending for the cavalcade of vehicles and retinue of personnel accompanying the team could be used in a better fashion, they aver. Source - http://www.thehindu.com

Argentina - 10% Of Soybean Crop Is Damaged

Fires and floods at the same time. That is what Argentina has faced in the last several weeks in different regions of the country, and that may push some grains higher, especially soybeans. The fires were generated in the southwest parts of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, and Rio Negro provinces due to dry weather in the region, affecting nearly 3.4 million acres. There is not significant planting of soybeans or corn in those places, but there are mostly wheat crops and cattle farms in there. While local authorities claim to have contained the fires, key soybean-producing regions have faced floods that may continue. The floods are concentrated in the northwest area of the Buenos Aires province, Entre Ríos, south of Santa Fe and south of Córdoba. In some cases, there was more than 19 inches of rain in less than 30 days, and there are still forecasts for precipitation over the next 48 hours. According to the Buenos Aires Cereal Exchange, the planting had progressed to 92.9% of the surface at the time the floods came. Losses have yet to be determined, but indeed it will be necessary to replant some batches, and there will be a delay to finish planting. As of today, most estimates put the Argentinian soybean crop at 57 million metric tons. Approximately 740,000 acres are considered under serious risk of loss, while already 10% of the crop is considered in bad or regular condition. “As the exportable supply of soybeans is concentrated in very few countries (U.S. + Brazil + Argentina = 80%), the oilseed complex will see more impact from these weather setbacks than corn in the international market, as reserves are lower,” says Guillermo Rossi, a grain strategist at Big River, a firm located in Rosario, northeastern Argentina. In the specific case of General Villegas, in the northwest of Buenos Aires, there are some of the worst conditions in the country. Floods already started in this location prior to December, in October and November. They expect to lose up to 50% of all corn and soybean production and face a financial loss of over $300 million. “Everything that was grown here is under water. We are facing time crunches, regarding the crops’ growing season. We hope to see it dry up, but as of now we think we lost this crop season,” says Guillermo Chapado, a farmer who is member of the Rural Society of General Villegas. The Argentinian Agrarian Federation has requested immediate official assistance for the producers that suffered with "total losses” originating from floods and fires, and that should include “forage, logistical, and financial help.” “We will not completely recover from this in four or five years,” a statement from the Federation reads. The government has announced a plan of subsidized credit rescue program to help mostly dairy and cattle farmers. Source - http://www.agriculture.com

Australia - Crop insurance: No stamp duty relief for canola and lentils

VICTORIAN growers insuring high-value crops such as canola and lentils for hail damage receive no stamp duty relief, while wheat crops do. Growers taking out hail insurance for cereal crops such as wheat and barley get an exemption on the Victorian Government’s 10 per cent stamp duty rate. However, if they are insuring oilseed or legume crops against hail they must pay the full 10 per cent, according to the legislation governing stamp duty in Victoria. This year lentils and chick peas are worth $680-$700 a tonne, and non-GM canola about $500 a tonne while Australian Premium White wheat is worth just $200-$230 a tonne and feed barley about $150 to $170. Another puzzling aspect of the stamp duty laws in Victoria is premiums paid for fire insurance policies for cereal crops are not exempt from stamp duty. According to the Department of Treasury and Finance, the effective rate of stamp duty charged on premium payments for hail and fire protection of cereal crops is 1 per cent. “It reflects the fact that the hail portion of the fire and hail insurance is exempt from stamp duty, while the fire portion is not,” the Department spokeswoman said. Its understood the anomaly is decades old and dates back to when cereal crops were the dominant crop grown in Victoria. In addition, investigation also reveals there is no stamp duty exemption on multi-peril crop insurance premiums, which can cover hail as well as other perils such as drought or frost. Primacy Underwriting chief executive officer Marcus Pearl said he had been lobbying the Government to rectify the situation. Victorian Farmers Federation grains group president Brett Hosking said having different levels of stamp duty on different crop types “seems ridiculous and adds another layer of red tape for growers”. “I would be interested to hear the justification. We will have a look at and see what the impact is for growers,” he said. A spokesman for the Victorian Government said while “there is no current proposal to adjust settings around exemptions relating to crop insurance. The Government continues to listen to Victorian farmers.” Source - http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au

Australia - Companies mull government subsidies on premiums

Providers of multi-peril crop insurance (MPCI) are looking forward to government subsidies on premiums despite having a better year of fewer payouts. MPCI provider Latevo said that less than 1% of Aussie farmers avail of MPCI, which makes it more difficult to spread the risk. The low number of participants also means fierce competition among the handful of companies that offer such insurance products. Latevo founder Andrew Trotter noted, however, that the past year has seen fewer crop failures, which meant that, for the first time, the company collected more premiums than it paid out. Latevo, as well as its competitor Sure Season, paid out to farmers in the central-west of NSW who suffered losses from the floods caused by the September 2016 heavy rains. New player Sure Season also paid out to farmers for frost damages in southern Queensland, the central-west and northern areas of NSW and in Western Australia. Currently, the Federal Government implements a crop rebate insurance scheme, which offers around a $2,500 rebate for the upfront costs of securing, or attempting to secure, multi-peril crop insurance. The NSW Government, on the other hand, is considering providing a 50% subsidy of up to $30,000 for the first two years per farm business, falling to 25% for three years. “Every new business has a gestational period to get up and going and we really do need some greater participation by the farmers or the product won’t be here in five years time,” Trotter said. “The reality is governments are looking at this very closely because they understand we need to get more participation by farmers. “It’s a cultural shift as farmers have never thought of it before.” Brendan Reinheimer, of Sure Season, said that while MPCI still has ways to go before it could go commercial and stand on its own feet, MPCI “revenue products” did not need any subsidies by the state and federal governments as they do in other countries. Some farmers were using the insurance to help take up forward grain contracts, Trotter said. “Effectively, people bought insurance contracts in March [and] April last year; they saw some price spikes for both wheat and pulse prices,” he said. “So they forward-contracted on those prices for delivery in [the] December-January period.” “They’ve been able to get far greater return for this year’s crop than farmers that didn’t have that confidence to forward-sell when they didn’t know what sort of crop they were going to get.” Source - http://www.insurancebusinessonline.com.au

India - All farmers will get compensation at their doorsteps

Compensation for the farmers who had incurred crop loss owing to failure of North-east Monsoon would be provided at their doorsteps, said Minister for Dairy Development K.T. Rajenthra Bhalaji. After inspecting various places in the district to assess crop loss faced by the farmers on Monday, Mr. Bhalaji said the assessment work of crop loss was undertaken by officials of the district under the direct supervision of Collector A. Sivagnanam. “The assessment would be carried out minutely and compensation ensured to all the farmers who faced loss,” he said. Mr. Bhalaji said 10 per cent of the total villages that had faced crop loss would be inspected by various teams of officials. They would incorporate the details of the crop loss in Bhuvan app with all minute details. The Minister said Virudhunagar district had recorded a 59 per cent deficit rainfall during the monsoon, and storage in waterbodies went down significantly. The crops sown expecting good rainfall under the North-east Monsoon withered now. Senior IAS officer and district monitoring officer S. Krishnan, Tenkasi MP Vasanthi Murugesan, MLAs G. Subramanian and Chandra Prabha were among those who visited the fields across the district. Source - http://www.thehindu.com

India - 12,000 hectares of crops hit in district, says rural development minister SP Velumani

State municipal administration and rural development minister SP Velumani has said more than 12,000 hectares of crops have been hit by drought in Coimbatore district.Velumani, who inspected the drought-hit villages on Sunday as part of the state-wide drive to assess crop loss, said maize, corn and cereals have been worst hit by the monsoon failure in the district. The state government would take measures to provide 100% compensation for the crop loss, he said. According to a statement from the district administration, Velumani said of the 9,869 hectares of area under maize cultivation, crops in about 8,230 hectares have suffered damage to the extent of more than 50%. Similarly, corn grown in 1,665 hectares and cereals in 2,200 hectares were affected due to monsoon failure.Earlier, Velumani told reporters after interacting with farmers near Ettimadai that the district received 67% less rainfall this year compared to the previous years. In the last 10 years, the average annual rainfall received by Coimbatore district was 671mm. In 2015, the rainfall received was higher than the average at 820mm. But in 2016, the district received only 223mm.The rainfall received during the northeast monsoon was also lesser than the normal, he said adding that the situation had resulted in a historic drought in Coimbatore. Source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

India - Crop damage assessment under way

Assessment of crop loss owing to lack of rainfall in Thoothukudi district is under way. Officials of the Department of Agriculture and other departments had been assessing the extent of damage caused to the crops, Collector M. Ravikumar said here on Monday. He said the officials would ensure cent per cent assessment of agricultural fields. About 10 per cent of the assessment had been completed. The assessment of the damage caused to 13 major crops had been made on a random basis at 53 villages across the district, and about 95 per cent of the crops suffered damage, he said. The assessment would be made at over 400 villages. A report was forwarded to the government following the visit of the special team of monitoring officers, who took stock of farm lands in the district recently, he added. Source - http://www.thehindu.com

Uruguay - Fruit sector won't be significantly affected by storm

Although the unexpected storm recorded on Tuesday caused serious damage to certain plantations, the phenomenon is not expected to take a toll on a large scale on the good volume and quality achieved lately at the Uruguayan Mercado Modelo, according to Pablo Pacheco, representative of the commercial area of the said wholesale centre. According to the web site of the Uruguayan newspaper El Observador, the most vulnerable crops to this type of phenomena are leafy vegetables, mainly spinach, chard, and lettuce, which during the year 2016 recorded very good results in terms of both volume and quality; therefore, if there are drawbacks, prices will be slightly affected. In the case of deciduous fruits, the harvest of peaches, plums and grapes is in full swing, without great difficulties. The first apple batches, of a crop that will have to supply the market throughout the year, are also being inspected, and there is relief because no significant impact has been detected. However, there is a greater uneasiness amongst producers, as stated by the representative of the Association of Producers of Canelones (APAC), Gerardo Martinez, who told the newspaper that the weather situation generates a lot of uncertainty in the sector. It is very difficult to produce under these conditions, "if we take into account that, over the last few months, we have had to deal with almost one atmospheric phenomenon per week, with hurricanes or strong winds," said Martínez. Meanwhile, APAC vice president, Luis Fabreto, stated that the intensity of the wind knocked off many fruits which were close to being harvested, namely peaches and plums. The storm also caused damage to apples that were not yet ripe and which also fell from the trees. The impact of this may be reflected when the harvest season starts. Similarly, the storm caused the destruction of lettuce and chard crops, as well as of greenhouses located on different estates of rural Montevideo and the metropolitan fringe. Source - http://www.freshplaza.com

Spain - Valencian agriculture has suffered a catastrophic year

The president of the Valencian Association of Farmers (AVA), Cristóbal Aguado, has pointed out that 2016 has been an "especially catastrophic" agricultural year. For the fourth consecutive year, the sector has suffered the impact of drought and at the end there have been torrential rains as "we hadn't seen for a long time." Thus, the losses have been estimated at a total of 600 million Euro, with 355 million corresponding to the damage caused by the year-end storms, and 245 million to that caused by drought. At a press conference, Cristóbal Aguado has asked the government for solutions "based on an agrarian pact and a consensus of all political parties." Aguado recalled that the Region of Valencia is the autonomous region where "prices for agricultural products have fallen the most," about 12%, to which we must add a 20% loss of profitability. Regarding 2017, he believes it could be a "very tough" year because of the growing abandonment of lands (with this figure already at 165,000 hectares); a situation which he reports to be at a critical point, given the lack of interest from new generations in the activity. As for thefts in the field, he assured that every day producers lose 60,000 Euro, due to which he has asked for "politicians to become more involved in the matter." Aguado has also been very critical of European agricultural policies. "This is not the Europe we want. We want it to be based on solidarity," he stated, referring to the Russian veto and the agreement with South Africa to import citrus fruits as circumstances that are taking a negative toll on Valencian agriculture. "Mediterranean agriculture does not exist in Europe; it is marginalised and discriminated against, and every Spanish government has been an accomplice to this." Thus, he assured that "the countries of the south always lose" and has denounced the "lack of solidarity" of the community institutions, which "seem more concerned in defending the interests of those outside than of those within." Aguado has complained about the announcement of a 80 million Euro investment in organic farming, while conventional agriculture is not supported, and has shown his displeasure with "assembly politics". "I am concerned about assembly politics generating a diversity of opinions on specific issues amongst people who have no idea on the subject. That gives the government the will to do as it pleases." Source - http://www.freshplaza.com

Australia - Fledgling multi-peril crop insurance industry looks forward to government subsidies on premiums

Multi-peril crop insurance companies (MPCI) are looking forward to governments offering subsidies for premiums, despite having a better year with fewer payouts. The fledgling industry has only a handful of companies and competition is fierce because of the small number of farmers interested. Latevo, the first to offer such insurance products, said fewer than 1 per cent of Australian farmers were taking up MPCI, making it difficult to spread the risk. But the company's founder, Andrew Trotter, said a better year with fewer crop failures has meant that for the first time, it collected more in premiums than it paid out. Like its competitor Sure Season, Latevo paid out flood-hit farmers in the central-west of NSW, where heavy rain inundated crops around Forbes in September 2016. "We've got a couple of clients south of Forbes that got really badly hit this past year, and we're processing their claims now," Mr Trotter said. "They were the fortunate ones compared to their neighbours, who had decided to take the risk on themselves and got flooded when the Lachlan River flooded." New kid on the block Sure Season, which only began offering coverage for revenue loss in 2016, has also paid out to farmers in southern Queensland, the central-west and northern areas of NSW and in Western Australia following frost. Sure Season said it had a long-term arrangement with underwriter Lloyds of London for its MPCI revenue insurance where farmers could retain some risk — for example, the first 30 per cent of their income — and any loss above that revenue they could claim and reduce their premium. Meanwhile, Mr Trotter said Latevo was keen to defend its products from copycats. "Make no bones about it, Latevo will protect its intellectual property and if people copy what we do, we'll deal with it accordingly," he said. Government subsidies being considered Currently the Federal Government offers about $2,500 rebate on the financial check required to take up multi-peril crop insurance. But the NSW Government is considering recommendations from an independent pricing and regulatory commission IPART report to subsidise premiums on multi-peril — 50 per cent for the first 2 years capped at $30,000 per farm, falling to 25 per cent for three years. "Every new business has a gestational period to get up and going and we really do need some greater participation by the farmers or the product won't be here in 5 years time," Mr Trotter said. "The reality is governments are looking at this very closely because they understand we need to get more participation by farmers. "It's a cultural shift as farmers have never thought of it before." Sure Season's Brendan Reinheimer said that while MPCI has a little way to go to be commercial and on its own two feet, the MPCI "revenue products" did not need any subsidies by State and Federal Governments as they did in other parts of the world. Mr Trotter said his clients were using the insurance to help them take up forward grain contracts. "Effectively, people bought insurance contracts in March [and] April last year; they saw some price spikes for both wheat and pulse prices," he said. "So they forward-contracted on those prices for delivery in [the] December-January period. "They've been able to get far greater return for this year's crop than farmers that didn't have that confidence to forward-sell when they didn't know what sort of crop they were going to get." Source - http://www.abc.net.au

Australia - Risk of a destroyed crops should be spread says agribusiness consultant

Despite the huge risk of growing a crop each year, only a fraction of farmers take out appropriate insurance. The multi-peril crop insurance cover is very young and a handful of companies offer it. Some companies have made big payouts for failed crops, which is unsustainable unless more farmers come on board to spread the risks across the regions. Jay Horton, an agribusiness consultant with Strategis Partners is studying crop insurance as a Research Fellow at the Business School of the University of Sydney. He said given the failure of many farmers to take up the insurance, in 2015 — it was 1 per cent — there needed to be a new approach to spread the risk. "Australia is one of the riskiest agricultural country in the world in terms of agricultural production; second to Uruguay. "We have to be very good at risk management in all of its forms and we could do better. "We should understand that farm production risk is not just the farmer's problem, it's a supply chain problem, a systemic problem. "If the farmers don't do well, the input suppliers don't do well, the buyers of grain and livestock also don't do well." Jay Horton said supply chain partners to the farm enterprise needed to become involved. "What if the input suppliers were to say to the farmer customers 'No need to pay in full for the seed we supplied you this year.' "Or the buyers of crops could say, 'You weren't able to supply the target volume, we will give you an income to cover this year's costs anyway!'" He said banks could waive interest on a loan, and farmland owners leasing land to young farmers could reduce rent for a year. That would be backed up with an insurance policy and risk management and is then simply another service that is offered. Mr Horton said the emergence of big data, from weather stations, markets and on-farm operations, about prices, soil fertility and moisture, would help to provide objective information. "Insurance reduces the likelihood that the company will have to raise costly external capital at the wrong time." Index insurance Only a hand full of companies in Australia are offering multi-peril crop insurance (MPCI), but even fewer offer the alternative, index insurance. MPCI has to be taken out at the beginning of the season, at the point of sowing the crop, and will cover the loss of revenue or yield from a poor season. By contrast, index insurance is taken out later, and for single events that a grower fears will downgrade the quality or yield. Jonathan Barratt set up the index insurer Celsius Pro that has grown steadily and has written $330 million worth of cover this past year. Index insurance covers for triggers; rainfall, temperature, flood which can be verified by the weather bureau data. The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has produced a new service that provides objective confirmation of a weather event, heavy rain or hot days, by interpolative data, after developing a 5km scale grid across Australia. "This year we had payouts after big deluges of rain in north-west NSW, " Mr Barratt said. "Those same growers decided not to take wet harvest cover, but had cover for a deluge. "The BOM came in and said 'Hey, it's going to be very wet'. He said the smart farmer took up rain cover and was paid out. "Then we had even smarter farmers, particularly with chickpeas, who said 'It cost me $500 to put in, the price is currently $1000'." They calculated that if there was a deluge they would lose the whole crop. "So they took our wet harvest cover, because they realised, 'I'm not going to lose $1000 per tonne just because it rains". Mr Barratt said MPCI needed to be modified because there was a lack of continuity of product, and a limited number of underwriters willing to take the risk after big payouts several years in a row. "Index insurance has any number of five up to 10 underwriters. Each one vies for the business and we can shop around for the best one for the grower. "That spreads the risk among reinsurers and it's fast. "If it rains, and the BOM says it rains, the grower gets paid," Mr Barratt said. Source - http://www.abc.net.au

USA - USDA examines how wealth and savings affect crop insurance decisions

Farmers use crop insurance to protect themselves against risk — primarily against crop failure and low market prices. In the United States, participation in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's federal crop insurance program has grown steadily since the mid-1990s to become the single largest individual program providing financial support to producers under the 2014 farm bill. The growth in crop insurance programs — both in the United States and developing countries — has been driven in part by the premium subsidies provided by the government. In a new report from the USDA's Economic Research Service, researchers Katie Farrin, Mario Miranda and Erik O'Donoghue examined how a farmer's financial situation — particularly in terms of savings and wealth — may affect not only their coverage level election, but even whether or not to carry crop insurance at all. One of the study's general findings was that the demand for insurance will decline as the interest rate on savings rises. Similarly, farmers will save more and insure less, as insurance premium rates increase. However, an exception to these general findings would be for those farm households who are less wealthy. The study also found that the demand for crop insurance, when examined over multiple years, is primarily driven by the farmer's financial wealth rather than one's attitude toward risk. Therefore, the purchasing of insurance and the choice of coverage levels are heavily determined by the producer's income and savings. The demand for crop insurance was also found to be reduced at both the lower and higher levels of farm wealth. However, the reasons differ depending on what side of the spectrum the farm household falls. High-wealth farmers may not purchase insurance at all and may instead use savings to self-insure. By comparison, households with low wealth may not purchase crop insurance simply because they cannot afford it. The researchers also found that farmers do not make production decisions based solely on what would be best considering the current crop season. Instead, they choose to manage their farms in a way that helps them earn the most value over the lifetime of the farm, with the demand for crop insurance dropping the longer the farm's expected time horizon. When households can save over many years, their insurance decisions will depend not only on time, but also a household's wealth and history of farm income. Even among farm households with the same level of wealth, predictions about insurance decisions will differ depending on whether a household expects to generate farm income for two crop seasons or many. An analysis of existing USDA data also shows that insurance and savings are substitutes, unless a household's annual farm income is relatively low. In general, greater savings result in lower demand for crop insurance among U.S. crop farmers. Still another finding from the study was that operators with higher amounts of debt are more likely to purchase insurance, perhaps to avoid falling further into debt should a weather event affect production in a given season. USDA survey to measure financial health of dairy producers Beginning in January, representatives from the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service will visit dairy farms across the nation to collect data for the final phase of the 2016 agricultural resource management survey. This annual survey gathers in-depth information on production practices, costs, and the financial well-being of American farm families producing selected commodities on a rotational basis. This year, the survey places added focus on conventional and organic dairy operations. The last time that the dairy sector was the subject of this annual survey was in 2010, which focused only on conventional dairy operations. The results from the 2016 survey will help USDA and other policymakers analyze the impacts of the new Dairy Margin Protection Program that was authorized by the 2014 farm bill, and launched in 2015. All dairy farmers selected to participate in the 2016 survey will be notified by a postcard. Following receipt, trained enumerators will make appointments and visit the participating farms to gather the information through personal interviews that will begin in late January and continue through early April. FSA committee election results announced Ballots for the Farm Service Agency's county committee election were mailed to all eligible voters in November. Local offices recently tabulated all returned ballots and have announced the following election results. In Chippewa County, Lane Schwitters of Raymond was elected to his first term. In Kandiyohi County, John Cunningham of Atwater was re-elected to his second term. In Meeker County, Tom Walsh of Litchfield was re-elected for a second term. In Pope County, Jane Reents of Villard was re-elected to her third term. In Renville County, Orlynn Henga of Sacred Heart was re-elected to a third term. In Swift County, Jess Berge of Sunburg was elected to his first term. In Yellow Medicine County, David Luepke of Belview was re-elected to his second term. All elected candidates began serving a three-year term Jan. 1. There are nearly 7,800 county committee members serving the 2,124 Farm Service Agency offices located nationwide. Committees typically consist of three to five members that make many important decisions regarding the local administration of federal farm programs. Source - http://www.wctrib.com

Australia - Difficult year ahead for horticulture

The first half of 2017 is looking to be a challenging time for winegrape and horticulture industries in SA, with many growers still recovering from unfavorable weather, including hail and floods. The Wine Grape Council of SA executive officer, Peter Hackworth, stated that he predicts a hike in price for grapes in 2017 after the hail that hit Riverland in November cut production by 10%. “That will probably mean the crop will be down in 2017 and likely to be down in 2018 because the following year’s bud will be affected by that extended cold.” Last year was one of mixed performance in the horticulture industry, according to the Horticulture Coalition of SA chair, Susie Green, with 2017 likely to be similar. “Apples and pears have been impacted by storms so I don’t think we’ll see production as high as in 2016. In other sectors of horticulture it’s likely to be a good year – in areas which haven’t been hit with bad weather.” Ms Green said the overall value of the almond industry continued to grow in 2016, while tomatoes, potatoes and citrus also performed well. Source - stockandland.com.au

India - Ministers inspect drought-hit agricultural lands

Minister for Public Works Department, Highways and Minor Ports Edappadi K. Palaniswami along with Collector V. Sampath inspected agricultural fields in Omalur, Mettur, Edappadi, Sankari and Veerapandi areas. Compensation TheMinister assessed the extent of loss suffered by the farmers and assured them that irrespective of whether their crops were covered under insurance or not, all the farmers whose crops were damaged would get compensation. He said that failure of North-East Monsoon led to the current situation and added that all farmers will be compensated. He visited fields where tomato, pulses, maize and other crops remained withered due to absence of water. V. Paneerselvam, MP, MLAs and others accompanied him. Namakkal In Namakkal, Minister for Electricity, Prohibition and Excise P. Thangamani along with Minister for Social Welfare and Nutritious Noon Meal Programme Dr. V. Saroja inspected the crops that were affected by severe drought in the district on Saturday. Accompanied by Collector M. Asia Mariam and monitoring officer, the Ministers visited fields of the affected farmers in Tiruchengodu and other areas in the district. Source - http://www.thehindu.com