Crop Insurance Claims Seeing Spike As Farmers Deal With Tough Season

Aug. 4--BEARDSTOWN -- For Beardstown farmer Jack Hardwick, the long-term flooding of many of his fields near Beardstown, Chandlerville and Meredosia has made this year's planting season a hard one.

With roughly 600 acres that could not be planted, Hardwick had to turn to crop insurance and state and federal programs to make ends meet until next year's planting season.

"It's not something that'll make you money," Hardwick said. "It basically keeps us afloat until next year. It doesn't make us money, but it does help us break even."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Risk Management Agency pays claims to farmers who are prevented from planting their land for any of several reasons, including flooding.

Last year, roughly $299 million in claims were filed across the country for flooding or excessive moisture, according to a USDA spokesperson.

The agency paid $4.3 million for flooding or excess moisture in Illinois in 2018. So far this year, it has paid $51.5 million in Illinois alone -- about 12 times more than last year.

This is the first year Hardwick has had to file a prevented planting claim.

"This has been the worse year ever for us," he said.

Some of Hardwick's fields have been planted this year, but he has had to plant a lot of cover crops on the acreage to help prevent erosion and keep his soil healthy, he said.

Like many farmers in the area, Hardwick faced flooding and excessive moisture because of high water levels along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.

"The fields were so wet that the first time we were able to get on them was a few weeks ago," Hardwick said.

The normal planting season for many farmers begins in March, April or May.

Because it is early in the season, it is too soon to tell if the number of payouts by the USDA is record-setting.

According to a study by Gary Schnitkey of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois, an estimated $3.6 billion in prevented planing payments could be possible this year.

Using rates of $308 an acre for corn and $138 an acre for soybeans -- roughly the cost from 2018 -- and estimates of 8 million corn acres and 3 million soybean acres, Schnitkey estimates payouts close to $2.5 billion for corn and $414 million for soybeans, with an additional $700 million for other crops.

According to the study, this estimate would be $2.7 billion higher than the previous record of $2.1 billion set in 2011.

While Hardwick said he'll be OK for the year, he'd rather have been able to put a crop in the ground.

"It's a lot more economic," Hardwick said. "We have expenses even when we don't plant an acre. We have to keep weeds out of the field, the expense of cover crop seeds so the soil has a living organism."

In addition to crop insurance, some state programs help cover the cost of cover crop seeds, Hardwick said, adding that it helps but still doesn't cover all expenses.

The state program pays $5 an acre, but Hardwick said it cost roughly $35 an acre for cover crops after the assistance programs.

While this season won't break him, he would rather be working all his fields, he said.

"For most farmers, we love the job," Hardwick said. "To not grow a crop is pretty humbling. This is the worse-case scenario for us."

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