Aricultural producers reported they were not able to plant crops on more than 19.4 million acres in 2019, according to a new report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This marks the most prevented plant acres reported since USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) began releasing the report in 2007 and 17.49 million acres more than reported at this time last year.
Ranchers in the western United States now have access to a range of federally subsidized crop insurance products to facilitate their ability to manage hayland and grazingland production risks. Many of these insurance plans address multiple perils such as drought, hail, fire, and insect infestation.
In recent years, however, ranchers in western states have begun to use a single peril insurance product, the Pasture, Rangeland, Forage Rainfall Index (RI‐PRF) plan to provide protection against losses of hay and forage production caused by a single peril, inadequate precipitation.
The Pasture, Rangeland, Forage Rainfall Index (RI‐ PRF) plan is described, illustrated, and evaluated for its usefulness to ranchers in this policy paper.
In 2003, RMA introduced a Livestock Risk Protection (LRP) insurance product to offer protection against unexpected reductions in the prices expected for livestock at the time the producer anticipates the livestock will be sold.
The purpose of LRP is offset the risk of price declines below the price, as established by RMA, that is expected to exist at the time the livestock covered under the policy are expected to be sold.
The focus of this briefing is to describe the LRP for feeder cattle, the category of livestock raised most extensively in many western states, and the potential use of LRP as a price risk management tool by producers in those states.
The Beige Book is a Federal Reserve System publication about current economic conditions across the 12 Federal Reserve Districts. It characterizes regional economic conditions and prospects based on a variety of mostly qualitative information, gathered directly from District sources.
The most recent Beige Book provides a brief summary of the Agriculture Sector in Western States.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) recently featured delegates at the 22nd International Farm Management Congress on its TAS Country Hour radio broaadcast. While delegates were enjoying one of the IFMA22 lunches, ABC corrispondants interviewed delegates attending the Congress from around the world.
Laurissa Smith of the ABC interviewed President Trevor Atkinson, organizor David Armstrong and several other delegates attending the Congress in Launceston, Tasmania. Included among them was John Hewlett, University of Wyoming Ranch/Farm Management Specialist and RightRisk Team member.
Click here to listen to the ABC TAS Country Hour online.
Click here to download the ABC TAS Country Hour broadcast in MP3 format.
One of the target priorities for the American Sheep Industry Let’s Grow committee is the development of better business management skills to assist sheep producers with success in the sheep business. We invite you to participate in three open access online course modules offered in this fall. These course modules include: Foundations for Business Management, Managing Depreciation for Your Farm Business, and Hiring and Keeping Agricultural Workers.
Expansion Crop insurance coverage is available for 15 individual crops or crop groups in Wyoming. However, for several crops federally-subsidized insurance coverage is only available in a limited number of counties.
An insurance product that may be of interest to beginning farmers and ranchers and producers of small acreages of multiple high-value crops is the Whole-Farm Revenue Protection Policy (WFRP). This pilot policy has been available to producers in all Wyoming counties in recent years.
This policy paper provides a description of the Whole-Farm Revenue Protection Policy and illustrates the application of WFRP to an example Park County irrigated farm.
Federal crop insurance products have been available to farmers in the United States for 80 years. Beginning in the early 1990s, the range of products offered by the USDA Risk Management Agency expanded, and today farmers have access to federal crop insurance for most of the crops they grow. Currently, nationally farmers can obtain insurance for over 140 crops and forages. Over the past several years, coverage has become widely available for crops produced under organic practices at price elections based on prices that reflect organic premiums.
Wyoming farmers, especially new and beginning farmers, need to understand these features and the information they will need to obtain federal crop insurance coverage.
“An Introduction to Federal Crop Insurance Products for New and Beginning Wyoming Farmers and Ranchers,” covers the following topics for crop and livestock operators in Wyoming:
1. An overview of which types of crop insurance are currently purchased by Wyoming farmers;
2. A decision criteria farmers may want to use in making their decisions about crop insurance;
3. The “units” issues farmers must address in determining whether or not to insure crops on the farm under a single APH contract or multiple contracts;
4. The process for establishing actual production histories on each insured unit;
5. Yield and revenue insurance options, with examples of how a producer’s premium costs, premium subsidies and indemnities may differ under yield and revenue insurance;
6. Other insurance options for crops, including GRP and whole farm insurance products;
7. Options that may be available to manage risk for crops not covered by federal crop insurance in a county; and
8. Insurance options applicable to livestock producers available through RMA, including the Pasture, Rangeland Forage (PRF) vegetation index product.
The pace of farm lending at commercial banks in the third quarter largely was unchanged from a year ago. Survey data indicate the volume of non-real estate farm loans originated in the third quarter increased about 2 percent from the previous year. The slight increase followed a similar year-over-year increase in the second quarter after sharp declines in lending activity the previous two quarters.
Leasing or renting pasture or forage is commonplace for many livestock producers across the West and is often an integral part of an operation. While there are many types of arrangements used, establishing a fair and equitable agreement for both parties involved can be a challenge at times. The Forage Risk Analyzer (FRA) tool, from RightRisk.org, is a spreadsheet-based tool designed to help a single or multiple parties (up to six) understand the full value of everything involved in a potential lease and formulate a more fair and equitable agreement. The tool divides contributions into six resource categories including: land, livestock, housing, stored feed, labor, and machinery. The user can allocate estimated costs and returns for up to six lease participants, after entering the basic information into the tool; the tool generates an allocation summary and performs net return and risk analysis based on the information submitted.
