March 11, 2009

If you're still weighing your crop insurance and other risk management options for 2009, you may want to check some of these Web resources.

Crop Insurance Information

March 16 is the deadline for farmers to buy crop insurance for most spring planted crops. It is especially important this year because eligibility for federal crop disaster aid is dependent on having crop insurance, notes Dewey Lienemann, extension educator in Webster County. March 16 is also the deadline for making any changes to existing crop insurance policies.

Building the Revenue Bridge - Farm Bill Update (Webinar, 95 minutes) with Steve Johnson, Farm and Ag Business Management Specialist at Iowa State University, and Brad Lubben, UNL Extension Public Policy Specialist, and hosted by Brandy VanDeWalle, Extension Educator in Fillmore County. The webinar, conducted live on March 9, addresses three financial safety nets for crop producers: crop insurance, Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program (SURE), and Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE), and includes a brief corn and soybean cash price and profitability forecast for the 2009-2010 marketing year.

• 2009 Crop Insurance Choices, Powerpoint® presentation used by Steve Johnson during the webinar.
• The New Farm Bill: New Decisions for Producers, Powerpoint® presentation used by Brad Lubben during the webinar.

2009 Crop Insurance Decisions (Webinar) with Steve Johnson and DTN Executive Editor Marcia Zarley Taylor

2008 Farm Bill: Implementation, Education, and Analysis (UNL Web Resources)

• Farm Bill Education Videos
• ACRE (Average Crop Revenue Election) Tools and Calculators
• SURE (Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program) Tools and Calculators

Related Web Sites

• Updating the Farm Bill Safety Net in an Expanding Sea of Risk, a publication of the American Agricultural Economics Association by university experts, including UNL Extension's Brad Lubben. A brief overview of the 2008 Farm Bill, covering key provisions on commodity programs, crop insurance and disaster assistance, conservation, horticulture and organic agriculture, livestock, credit, and international trade in addition to other selected provisions.

• USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA)
• USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA), forms and additional information
• The National Agricultural Law Center, full text and resources for all U.S. farm bills from 1933 to the present.
• Ag Decision Maker, Iowa State University Extension Economics, spreadsheets, SURE and Iowa ACRE calculators.)
• AgManager.info, Kansas State University Department of Agricultural Economics
• Farm Doc, University of Illinois Extension Economics; compare how different crop insurance products and see premiums for your county; compare how different products would work.
• ISU Polk County Crop Risk Management, — Other farm management and economic webcasts, newsletters, and updates, from Steve Johnson, Farm and Ag Business Management Specialist at Iowa State University
• Ohio State University Economic Reports from the Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics department, with articles written by Karl Zulauf, one of the principle designers of the federal ACRE and SURE programs.
• Market Journal, UNL Extension's Television for Ag Business Decisions
• What Your Banker Needs to Know to Help You, Market Journal segment, (Length 7:43)
  On the March 6 Market Journal, Sandy Priest, financial officer for Farm Credit Services of America, talks with program host Doug Jose about changes that producers may see when they meet with their banker this winter and spring. Financial ratio guidelines will be similar to those used in the past, she said, but are more likely to be adhered to this year. The amount loaned against land may decline from 70-75% of appraised value to 60-65% and interest rates on operating loans are likely to increase.