Sen. Tim Johnson says crop insurance important [American News, Aberdeen, S.D.]

Jan. 20--Crop insurance programs have to be continued and strengthened if direct payments end when a new farm bill is crafted later this year, U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., said in Aberdeen on Thursday.

Johnson spoke to a handful of invited guests from the agriculture sector during a listening session at the South Dakota Wheat Growers offices.

Audience members said they are OK with so-called direct payments -- made to farmers regardless of yield or market prices -- going away. But, they said, crop insurance, provided via the federal government through insurance agencies, is vital.

Congress has to keep a safety net in place for farmers even though some in Congress might try to restructure and even make cuts to the farm insurance program, Johnson said.

The prevent plant program is especially important, said Troy Knecht, a Houghton-area farmer. Without it, he said, his family's farm wouldn't be in business.

Prevent plant is a type of crop insurance that, oversimplified, pays farmers for land that can't be planted because of flooding. But it's not available over an extended period of time. Payments are discontinued when land is wet for four consecutive years.

Off-kilter weather

Crop insurance programs are especially important in years when the weather is abnormal, Johnson said. That's been the case in northeast South Dakota in recent years because severe flooding has made it difficult for farmers in the region to plant and harvest crops.

Knecht said crop insurance is the best risk management tool there is for farmers. And, he said, it would be good to have an additional clause in the new farm bill that would protect ag producers against catastrophic loss.

Lynda Weidebush, an agent with American Trust Insurance, said that there are so many crop insurance rules that it's difficult for farmers to follow them all. She said she would like to see program simplified.

Members of the audience were also concerned what would happen when farm commodity prices, which have been strong in recent years, finally drop.

Tom Fischbach, a Brown County commissioner from Warner and a farmer, said a combination of lower commodity prices, lower crop insurance benefits and continued high input costs would be troubling for farmers.

"I think that's when things could go bad on us," Fischbach said.

Program cuts

Johnson said that because a congressional supercommittee failed to come to an agreement about how to reduce debt last year, between $500 billion and $600 billion in cuts to domestic programs, including agriculture, are set to start phasing in next year. The cuts will be made over 10 years.

Too many cuts to agriculture could aggravate ag producers, audience members told Johnson.

Gerald Jasmer, of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, said the agency is concerned about fewer producers participating in farm programs because there aren't strong enough incentives. Hal Clemensen, president of the South Dakota Wheat Growers board of directors, said that when farmers see the federal government as less willing to help farmers, they are more apt to start doing, for instance, drain tile projects on their own.

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