INSURED SOYBEAN PRODUCERS HAPPY WITH CROP INSURANCE PRODUCTS

WASHINGTON, Mar 20, 2002 - Soybean producers generally show widespread support for soybean insurance products reinsured by RMA's Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, according to a recent United Soybean Board (USB) survey. And for Criss Davis, a soybean farmer in Shullsburg, Wisconsin, that news came as a welcome surprise.

As chairman of Trade Analysis Committee for the USB and a producer farming 3,000 acres to soybeans and other grains in Wisconsin, Davis and other USB members had a number of concerns regarding crop insurance that they wanted their survey to address. So he helped oversee the project that put the survey together.

"We began this process because we'd heard anecdotally that soybean farmers had been having problems with crop insurance," said Davis. "We wanted to find out what their issues were, and how they could be addressed."

The survey consisted of 800 interviews and three focus groups of soybean farmers across the United States over a 6-month time frame, and included farmers who carry crop insurance as well as farmers who do not and never have. The USB also completed an in-depth county-level analysis of all soybean producing counties.

"We were quite surprised to find out that farmers in general were very satisfied with the current crop insurance program," Davis said. "I think the reason for that has been the changes made [by RMA] in the crop insurance program over the past couple of years."

One major finding of the survey, according to Davis, is that farmers who were the best informed about crop insurance were the most satisfied with the federally sponsored program. And the reverse was also true: those who were the least informed were the least satisfied.

Other results of the survey showed:

• Sixty-three percent of those who have carried crop insurance and 67 percent of those who currently have buy-up coverage were satisfied with the insurance products;
• Soybean producers who have crop insurance described their experience as a positive one;
• Soybean producers say the paperwork required to participate in crop insurance programs is easy to complete and understand;
• Seventy-nine percent of soybean producers believe subsidies for federally sponsored crop insurance are a good use of tax dollars, and;
• Price is not soybean farmers' leading concern.

The survey also revealed four areas that could potentially lead more farmers to purchase coverage or increase their coverage levels on their soybean crops:

• New tools such as a Cost of Production insurance plan;
• Increased awareness on the part of farmers of the total crop insurance program;
• More economic incentives for agents to work with small- and mid-sized farmers; and
• Comprehensive actuarial analysis of some counties, mainly in the South and Southeast.

Although the survey shows a large percentage of satisfied customers, RMA continues to work with producers by funding risk management educational opportunities where they can learn about the tools and strategies to better manage risk, and by developing new products like a plan of insurance based on a producer's cost of production.