Crop Insurance is the Right Choice!

Crop insurance helps make Michigan’s farmers leaders in agriculture, allowing producers to stay competitive and be more innovative. It also helps them sleep better at night knowing that, should the unexpected happen, they will have the financial security to stay in business and go on to plant the next season.

Beginning fall 2013, tart cherry producers in Michigan have a new risk management tool at their disposal. With 97% of the cherry market decimated by early freezes in 2012, the USDA expanded the cherry crop insurance program to include tarts for the very first time. Producers in 14 Michigan counties on the western side of the state will now have access to this crop insurance product.

Here are some more facts on the importance of crop insurance for Michigan farmers:

• Crop insurance protected more than $2 billion of liability on growing crops in Michigan in 2011. A little more than 4 million acres were insured and more than $59 million was paid to farmers in indemnities for production and/or revenue losses.
• The top commodities (liability) for crop insurance protection in 2012 were:
• Corn – $1 billion, protecting 1.8 million acres
• Soybeans – $564 million, protecting 1.4 million acres
• Wheat – $150.4 million, protecting 442,000 acres
• Dry Beans – $54.5 million, protecting 139,000 acres
• The private crop-hail insurance product provided an additional $534 million in protection on growing crops in Michigan.

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