Participation in Pasture, Rangeland and Forage Insurance Products Increasing

(WASHINGTON, DC) The 2018 Farm Bill continues to emphasize support for farm risk management and to expand coverage within the Federal Crop Insurance Program (FCIP) that was established in the 2014 Farm Bill. Since 2007, the largest growth in insured acres has come from the introduction of coverage for pasture, rangeland, and forage areas. The 2018 Farm Bill introduces a catastrophic coverage option for these policies, which is likely to further increase the total acres insured for pasture, rangeland, and forage areas. According to the Economic Research Service, premiums for catastrophic coverage policies are fully subsidized, while higher levels of coverage are only partially subsidized. The availability of cheaper policies may induce additional participation in the program. However, the county base values that are used to assess the economic value of insured production covered by the policies will be lower in the 2019 crop year than in previous years. In turn, this decrease lowers the value of insured hay and forage production and may reduce the demand for pasture, rangeland, and forage area policies after all.