As farmers are still picking up the pieces from the derecho that damaged Iowa cropland Aug. 10, crop insurance remained a hot topic well into October.
On Oct. 14, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig and USDA Undersecretary Bill Northey held a roundtable discussion in Elberon, Iowa, to answer questions and listen to concerns of area farmers. Much of the time was spent discussing the nuances and difficulties of crop insurance.
Sam Prezik, a crop insurance agent, said there has been a lot of variability among adjusters throughout the claim process, and asked for clarification of what exactly “harvestable” means.
“I think we need some clarification on that,” Prezik said. “I’ve had two calls already this morning where people wanted another adjuster to come in. We are having issues where one zeroes it out and one puts 10 bushels on it.”
Another crop insurance agent at the meeting noted that crops that were zeroed out after the storm are now looking harvestable in October, which means farmers are wanting to get something out of their crop.
Northey said there are certainly some cases that will require second looks from multiple adjusters, especially in extreme events.
“How is anybody to know on Aug. 12 what it’s going to look like in October?” Northey said. “They did their best at the time. That doesn’t mean everyone needs one, but it does seem like there should be another chance in some cases.”
Naig added that the major challenge with crop insurance this year is dealing with an “unprecedented” wind event, but stressed that this year shows the importance of having some sort of fallback plan. He said he hopes having conversations like this will help make insurance more effective when needed.
“Are there some rough edges that we need to work through? Absolutely,” Naig said. “That’s why I’m appreciating the fact that Undersecretary Northey is here to spend time with our producers and hear directly from them. I hope we can learn a few things that will help some of these issues in the future.”
Storage and grain handling were also discussed, as many co-ops have been dramatically impacted by derecho damage.
Naig said nearly 60 million bushels of commercial grain storage was lost in the derecho, before taking into account on-farm storage. Northey said this is a unique problem because in many cases where storage bins were destroyed, farmers can simply go to the next town over.
“The crop that does get harvested, it’s a real challenge to figure out where it will go,” Northey said. “We have had no time to put it back in shape.”
Both Northey and Naig said to expect more outdoor storage this season, but due to possible damage from the elements, it should only be temporary.
Source - https://nonpareilonline.com
