Brandon Willis has good timing. He spent a few days in Florida at the end of August talking to farmers, nursery owners and insurance representatives about how crop insurance can benefit farmers, who are always at the mercy of natural disasters. One week after his visit, just such a disaster occurred. Hurricane Hermine struck the Sunshine State, the first time in more than a decade that Florida suffered a direct hit. "Crop insurance keeps a lot of farmers in business," Willis said during a telephone interview on Sept. 9. That's particularly true in Florida, where the farmers with whom Willis met let him know their stark reality: "One hurricane will literally put them out of business." Willis, the administrator of the federal U.S. Agriculture Department's Risk Management Agency, said the feds want to hear from people on the front lines. That's why teams from his agency have made several fact-finding trips in recent months. The late August Florida trip took officials to Lake City, Inverness, Gainesville, Orlando, Lakeland and Lake Alfred. They talked. They listened. Willis said a planning meeting will be convened soon to debrief and figure out next steps. Federally subsidized crop insurance is a big topic of interest in the agricultural world. Nationwide, farmers had $102.4 billion of crop coverage in 2015. That includes $3 billion in Florida, where $46.4 million was paid out in claims. In addition to listening, Willis also wants to spread the word about the relatively new Whole-Farm Revenue Protection program and other insurance products. Whole-Farm Revenue Protection, as the name suggests, covers all the crops on smaller, diversified farms. The program, which started last year, had 1,103 policies nationwide. The feds also have a special program for organic agriculture; it oversaw almost $650 million in federal insurance coverage last year. Source - http://www.ocala.com