Wheat Crop Insurance 



r"\i_HAT about the new wheat 

 V^y 1 7 crop insurance program? 

 A Y How will it influence prices? 

 How can it be made to operate fairly to 

 all wheat farmers regardless of where 

 they farm? These are among the ques- 

 tions discussed by Roy M. Green, man- 

 ager of the Federal Crop Insurance Cor- 

 poration before the Agricultural Club of 

 Chicago on June 20. 



If 50 per cent of the wheat growers 

 participate we may have as much as 100,- 

 000,000 bushels in the reserve to cover 

 1939 crop losses Green said. The wheat 

 crop insurance plan enables the grower 

 to pay for his losses from all kinds of 

 hazards with small annual installments 

 in the form of wheat. Under a recent 

 amendment to the Crop Insurance Act, 

 growers may pay the premium for two 

 years in advance which may mean even 

 larger reserves. 



Answering the question, "Will this re- 

 serve result in a large stock of grain 

 which will depress the market?" he said: 

 "It is important that you see the vital 

 differences between the insurance reserve 

 and stocks of grain such as existed in 

 Farm Board days. First, you have noted 

 that the policy specifically states that both 

 premiums and loss payments are 'at the 

 market." There can be no overbidding 

 the market. When the Corporation buys 

 wheat to cover the cash equivalents paid 

 in, that wheat will be bought at the mar- 



ket price. Consequently, no barriers or 

 interference are set up to obstruct the 

 free flow of wheat into mills, export, and 

 to other points. 



"What of the effect of the supply it- 

 self, held in government hands? The 

 simple arithmetic of the wheat surplus 

 proposition is that if more wheat is pro- 

 duced than mills and exporters consume, 

 there will be some wheat left over. That 

 will be carryover. It will exist whether 

 there is crop insurance or not. All that 

 crop insurance does is to earmark 50 to 

 100 million bushels of the carry-over for 

 the specific purpose of meeting future 

 crop losses of insured farmers. Under 

 the crop insurance law that reserve is 

 carefully protected, and cannot be a spec- 

 ulative element in the market. In its 

 automatic operation it takes in wheat 

 from farmers and moves it out to them 

 again. These wheat stocks can be built 

 up only as premiums are paid in ; they can 

 be sold only as crop losses require them 

 to be sold. It is not left to the whim or 

 fancy of some government official to say 

 when they will be sold. A sole excep- 

 tion to the rule is that wheat may be 

 sold to prevent deterioration, or to change 

 the position of grain. In both cases, the 

 same amount of wheat must be replaced 

 immediately." 



One of the greatest barriers to crop 

 insurance has been the lack of actual yield 

 history on individual farms. Green said. 



AMERICAN FARMERS 

 One of the highest honors that can come to a high school ag student was awarded 

 to nine boys nominated ior the degree of "American Fanner" by the Illinois chapter of 

 Future Farmers oi America recently at the University oi Illinois. Winners will be hon- 

 ored at the national F.F.A. convention this iail in Kansas City. Five Illinois' nominees 

 shown in this picture are, left to right Gerald Parr, Logan county: Warren Friedrichs. 

 Whiteside: Carl Stoner, Ogle; lohn Gehlbach, Logan, and Melvin lanssen, Woodiord. 

 Edwin Brannan. Cass; E. K. Thompson, Franklin: Benton Literland, Lawrence, and Lowell 

 Johnson, Champaign also were nominated. 



THIS 4-H CLUB RYTHM BAND OF 

 Peoria county are likely prospects ior 

 competition at the Farm Sports FestivaL 

 Leader, Mr*. Roy Timmons. Left to 

 right — back row: Myma Parr, Ethel 

 Richmond, Roberto Brooks, Lois Parr. 

 Ruth Parr, Eleanor Aimfield, Mary Lou 

 Carpenter and Rebecco Harper. Front 

 row: Annie Moletti Ruth Lowe ond 

 Marietta Bledsoe. Photo by Christie C. 

 Helper, home adviser. 



Before we could insure yields, we had to 

 be able to measure the risks accurately. 

 That is a basic principle of insurance, 

 and one of the contributing reasons of 

 the failure of early crop insurance at- 

 tempts can be traced to guesswork on the 

 amount of the premium necessary. But 

 today we don't need to rely on guess- 

 work. Through the operation of the 

 Triple-A programs we have actual yield 

 data on a majority of the wheat farms in 

 the country. Instead of wide rate zones, 

 the premiums in each case are fixed di- 

 rectly on the actual risk record of the 

 farm insured, blended with the actual risk 

 record of the county in which the farm is 

 located. The advantages of this arc ap- 

 pareiit, as it gives weight to both the 

 fanning ability of the individual, and yet 

 smooths out the differences between 

 farms due to accidental causes, such as 

 fire, hail or insect damage. It also 

 means that the high-risk man pays in 

 proportion to his risk, and cannot ride 

 on the shoulders of the low-risk man." 

 If you are interested in wheat crop in- 

 sur^ce send a penny post card to your 

 county soil conservation committee or, 

 better, ask about it the next time you stop 

 at your County Farm Bureau office. 



The Edgar County Growers Associa- 

 tion, an organization of strawberry pro- 

 ducers, finished its season with approxi- 

 mately 10,000 cases. The Illinois Fruit 

 Growers Exchange handled the sales. 

 Chester Boland, secretary of the Edgar 

 county group, reports that the growers 

 are well pleased with the results secured 

 in spite of the fact that weather condi- 

 tion and frosts earlier in the season 

 reduced the crop one third. 



JULY. 1938 



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