Understanding the Basics of Crop Insurance

On October 21, 2022, from 12 noon – 1:00 ET, the Penn State Center for Agricultural and Shale Law, alongside the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Business Development Center presented another webinar in our educational series, “Understanding Agricultural Law.” This session in our series is entitled, “Understanding the Basics of Crop Insurance.”

Farmers are known as “price-takers” in normal times, dealing with perishable crops which generally must be harvested and sold in short and simultaneous windows of time across most of North America. Add to that the uncertainties of natural conditions like freezing temperatures, storms, heat, drought, natural disasters and market/labor disruptions and it can be more risky to invest capital in a crop or commodity than traditional financing and banking practices can accommodate. Hedging against all these volatile conditions is an absolute necessity, not a luxury, in agriculture. Crop insurance is an ever-changing set of tools against potential financial strains that are routine for farmers. New products are routinely developed to adapt to changing farming practices, like whole farm revenue policies and innovative livestock and dairy margin coverages.

Find materials for this presentation and register for future presentations in our Understanding Agricultural Law series on our website here.