NCIS Crop Insurance Today
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SEPTEMBER 2014 • VOL. 47, NO. 3 PRISM – Part II 2013 Research Results Adjuster Schools Begin PUBLICATION OF NATIONAL CROP INSURANCE SERVICES ® Industry-leading crop insurance reporting tools to connect you and your customers GAIN EFFICIENCIES WITH THE RCIS PRECISION FARMING TOOL Are your policyholders taking full advantage of the precision farming capabilities in their equipment investments? With RCIS, agents and producers can upload precision farming data for crop insurance reporting electronically. We pair precision farming data with mapping services to complete multi-peril acreage reports, putting your policyholders’ equipment and data logging monitors to work. Our newly enhanced precision farming tool leverages both Ag Leader’s SMSTM software and Trimble’s Farm WorksTM mapping software to streamline communication between you and your policyholders, decrease paperwork, and increase electronic data usage. This user-friendly technology is now available for RCIS agents and policyholders. To learn more, ask your field service representative or visit RCIS.com. We grow stronger every day – together SM Rural Community Insurance Agency, Inc., D/B/A RCIS. RCIS is an equal opportunity provider. © 2014 Rural Community Insurance Agency, Inc. All rights reserved. WCS-1199642 WCS-1199642-RCIS-SummerPrecisionFarm-CropInsToday-ad.indd 1 6/26/14 3:48 PM TODAY PRESIDENT’SMESSAGE “...Where to now, St. Peter?” Affordability Now This is the second in a three-part series. The original article was published in the May 2014 issue of Crop Insurance TODAY ®. Laurie Langstraat, Editor Many of us recall the Seinfeld television series Hannah Wiebelhaus, Assistant Editor which aired for 10 years with 180 episodes. In sitting down to share my thoughts for this President’s Mes- TODAY® IS PROVIDED AS A SERVICE OF NATIONAL CROP INSURANCE SERVICES® sage, I was reminded of Episode #159 “The Serenity TO EDUCATE READERS ABOUT THE RISK Now” (aired October 9, 1997). In this particular ep- MANAGEMENT TOOLS PRODUCERS USE isode, George’s father was “prescribed” to utter the TO PROTECT THEMSELVES FROM phrase “Serenity Now” when he felt his blood pressure THE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH spiking. PRODUCTION AGRICULTURE. Here is an excerpt from the transcript of that episode: Industry-leading crop insurance reporting TODAY is published quarterly–February, May, Frank Costanza: “Serenity Now! Serenity Now!” August, and November by George Costanza: “What is that?” tools to connect you and your customers National Crop Insurance Services Frank: “Doctor gave me a relaxation cassette. When 8900 Indian Creek Parkway, Suite 600 my blood pressure gets too high, the man on the tape tells Overland Park, Kansas 66210 Tom Zacharias, NCIS President me to say, ‘Serenity Now!’” GAIN EFFICIENCIES WITH THE RCIS PRECISION FARMING TOOL www.ag-risk.org George: “Are you supposed to yell it?” Frank: “The man on the tape wasn’t specific.” If you move, or if your address is incorrect, please Okay, enough levity and stream of consciousness. What does this have to do with crop insur- send old address label clipped from recent issue Are your policyholders taking full advantage of the precision farming capabilities in their ance and the new Farm Bill? along with your new or corrected address to equipment investments? With RCIS, agents and producers can upload precision farming Donna Bryan, at the above address. As readers of this quarterly discourse may recall, in the last issue of TODAY® we asked “Where data for crop insurance reporting electronically. We pair precision farming data with to Now, St. Peter?” as crop insurance has become the centerpiece of the farm safety net in the 2014 Farm Bill. In discussing the “Road” to be traveled, we focused on three key elements for crop in- mapping services to complete multi-peril acreage reports, putting your policyholders’ surance to be successful as we go forward. These elements are: 1) availability; 2) affordability; and equipment and data logging monitors to work. 3) viability. In the previous issue we discussed crop insurance availability. Crop insurance is now widely Our newly enhanced precision farming tool leverages both Ag Leader’s SMSTM software available in 3,135 counties nationwide with more than 120 different crop programs covering 296 and Trimble’s Farm WorksTM mapping software to streamline communication between million acres in 2013 with $124 billion in crop protection liability. We also stressed the importance of the new Farm Bill as it established risk management-based crop insurance as the foundation ® you and your policyholders, decrease paperwork, and increase electronic data usage. NCIS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE of future agricultural policy. With passage of the Farm Bill, two new risk management products Tim Weber, Chairman became available for private sector delivery: the Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) and the This user-friendly technology is now available for RCIS agents and policyholders. Mike Day, Vice Chairman Jim Korin, Second Vice Chairman Stacked Income Protection Plan (STAX). In addition to SCO and STAX, existing coverage will be enhanced with the Enterprise Unit discount moving from a pilot to a permanent program and the expansion of enterprise unit availability by practice. The Farm Bill also provides beginning farmers To learn more, ask your field NCIS® MANAGEMENT and ranchers with additional premium discounts and the benefit of higher insurable yields, mak- service representative Thomas P. Zacharias, President ing crop insurance more affordable and available to more growers. Charles Lee, General Counsel So, back to our latest Seinfeld episode...we turn to “Affordability Now.” or visit RCIS.com. James M. Crist, CFO/COO Frank Schnapp, Senior Vice President Mike Sieben, Senior Vice President A Little Background on Affordability Affordability goes hand-in-hand with availability. The progression of the modern day crop We grow stronger insurance program is in no small part due to the emphasis and investment Congress has made in Creative Layout and Design making crop insurance products more affordable. Let us take a little walk down memory lane…. SM by Graphic Arts of Topeka, Inc., Kansas every day – together Historically, concern over the limited availability of insurance for farmers and insufficient -ca pacity to cover catastrophic risks faced by private companies resulted in the Federal Crop Insurance Printed on recycled paper. Printed with Environmentally Continued on page 38 friendly vegetable oil based inks. Rural Community Insurance Agency, Inc., D/B/A RCIS. RCIS is an equal opportunity provider. CROPINSURANCE TODAY® 1 © 2014 Rural Community Insurance Agency, Inc. All rights reserved. WCS-1199642 WCS-1199642-RCIS-SummerPrecisionFarm-CropInsToday-ad.indd 1 6/26/14 3:48 PM VOL. 47, NO. 3 SEPTEMBER 2014 Table of Contents 1 Affordability Now 4 The PRISM Climate & Weather System in Crop Insurance 10 2013 Research Review 19 First Day at School? A Word of Advice 10 26 Finally a Farm Bill . So What’s Next? 32 AFA’s Value to Students and Agriculture 36 2013 U.S. Crop-Hail & MPCI Loss Ratio by State 41 The Future of TODAY® 44 Crop Insurance Plan Comparison 19 ••••••••••••••• Visit ••••••••••••••• www.cropinsuranceinamerica.org Copyright Notice All material distributed by National Crop Insurance Services is protected by copyright and other laws. All rights reserved. Possession of this material does not confer the right to print, reprint, publish, copy, input, transform, distribute or use same in any manner without the prior written permission of NCIS. Permission is hereby granted to Members in good standing of NCIS whose Membership Class (and service area, if membership is limited by service area) entitles them to receive copies of the enclosed or attached material to reprint, copy or distribute such NCIS copyrighted material in its present form solely for their own business use and solely to employees, adjusters or agents who are under contract with them, and as a condition to receiving such copies, such employees, adjusters and agents agree that they will not reprint, copy or distribute, or permit use of any such NCIS copyrighted material to or by any other person and/or company, or transform into another work such NCIS copyrighted material, without prior written permission of NCIS. 32 © 2014 National Crop Insurance Services, Inc. ProAg_CIT_September_2014_AltDropShadow.qxp_Layout 1 7/1/14 1:38 PM Page 1 S O LV I N G T H E R I S K M A N A G E M E N T P U Z Z L E S O L U T I O N S Providing ProAg® agents with all the pieces needed to solve the agricultural risk management puzzle: n Price Flex™ n eWeatherRisk® n Enterprise Plus n Livestock Insurance n HarvestPro™ – Ag Armour™ n HarvestMax™ – Ag Armour™ n Price Area Revenue™ (PAR) www.ProAg.com n ProAg Named Peril Products n ProAg Crop Hail Products & Endorsements n ProAg Crop Insurance Plans, Policy Endorsements & Options To learn more about how ProAg can help you deliver timely and relevant risk management solutions to your customers, visit us at ProAg.com or @ProAgIns. Come experience the ProAg difference today. The insurance products listed may be subject to availability and qualifications. ProAg® is a wholly owned subsidiary of CUNA Mutual Group. ProAg is an equal opportunity provider. ©2014 ProAg. All Rights Reserved. Price Flex™ and Price Area Revenue™ are trademarks of Watts & Associates, Inc. HarvestPro™, HarvestMax™, and Ag Armour™ are trademarks of Ag Armour. eWeatherRisk® is a registered trademark of eWeatherRisk, Inc. CropInsurance TODAY The PRISM Climate & Weather System in Crop Insurance VisitWebsite ag-risk.org By Christopher Daly, Oregon State University and Kirk Bryant, Risk Management Agency In our first article (August 2013, pp. 4-6), Taking Science time steps. For crop insurance, however, dai- we recounted the origins of the PRISM Cli- to the Next Level ly data were needed to be able to resolve se- mate and Weather System, developed by Ore- Before the RMA established a relation- vere rainstorms, heat waves, cold snaps, and gon State University’s PRISM Climate Group, ship with PRISM, PRISM was routinely pro- other short-term weather events.