New program will offer coverage for farmers growing fruits and vegetables and organic growers
A major new "whole-farm" insurance program based on a proposal in a bill written by Congresswoman Chellie Pingree was announced yesterday by the Obama Administration. The new program allows diversified farmers who raise a variety of crops access to crop insurance. Since traditional crop insurance was designed mostly for large farms that grow a single crop like corn or soybeans, for many smaller farmers this will be the first time they have been able to buy affordable coverage to insurance against crop losses.
"The kind of farmers we have in Maine who are growing the vegetables and fruits sold locally at farmers markets, CSAs and in local grocery stores haven't had access to crop insurance designed for them," Pingree said. "If you are growing thousands of acres of corn in Nebraska you could get coverage, but a small diversified vegetable farm in rural Maine might be out of luck. This new program will change that."
Pingree included "whole-farm" insurance in her Local Farms, Food and Jobs Act and the proposal was later picked up and included in the Farm Bill, which passed Congress and was signed by the President earlier this year.
"The current crop insurance system just wasn't set up for the kind of farmers that actually grow the kind of food that we eat," Pingree said. "Running a diversified farm is a small business and every small business needs the safety net of insurance. This new program is going to make it easier for these farms to plan for the future, to expand and to weather a down year. That's not only good for these farmers but also good for the economies of the communities they live in."
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsak announced the new policy, called Whole-Farm Revenue Protection, in Washington this week.
"It reduces the risk of farming to the point people will stay in farming," Vilsack said. "Providing farmers the option to insure their whole farm at once gives farmers more flexibility, promotescrop diversity, and helps support the production of healthy fruits and vegetables."
