Archive of Farm Stories

January 2003

• Making the Adjustment, January 17 -- RMA Associate Administrator David Hatch recently learned the ropes of adjusting losses with crop adjustersin North Carolina's drought- and flood-affected cotton fields.

March 2002

• It's Not Just Farming, Anymore, March 1 -- "Missouri farmers used to harvest their crop, store it, and sell it," said Dean Gibson. "That's not enough in today's global marketplace." Related items: Coverage Up for Missouri Farmers | New Risk Management Products | Missouri Crop Insurance Policies Sold (chart; PDF file)

September 2001

• Agents Make a Difference, September 10 -- Producer acceptance of the AGR pilot is varied. We suspected that where it was working we'd find an exceptional agent. We were right.

August 2001

• Agent With An Agenda, August 9 -- When Kathy Fowler started her Fowler Agency crop insurance business in 1988, she set up shop with little more than cardboard box files, 1-1/2 years experience as an adjustor, and, most importantly, a good name.

July 2001

• "I Sell Crop Insurance", July 16 -- Stuart Surles thinks every farmer needs loss protection and no policy is too small to write as long as it provides adequate coverage.

April 2001

• CRC Improves Comfort Zone for Oregon Grower, April 2 -- Greg Goad of Umatilla County, Oregon, thinks of his farm as a business and price protection is a vital component of his risk management strategies. "I like being my own boss, but think of my farm business through a different filter than many farmers."

February 2001

• Managing Dairy Risk, February 20 -- When dairyman Roger Kukowski from Polk County, WI, walks into the bank every winter for his annual business review, he has in hand financial documents that would warm the heart of any financial officer.

November 2000

• Sweetener for Honey Bees?, November 7 -- Danny Weaver's family name has been synonymous with the honey bee business in Grimes County, Texas, since his great-grandparents received 10 hives as a wedding present in 1888. Weaver, in the business with his father Binford Weaver, has a question, "Will my generation benefit from a crop insurance program?"

September 2000

• It's a Family Business for Sun-kissed Citrus, September 20 -- Chris Stambach, who became a citrus grower about the same time he started working for Sunkist in 1991, will find the new Actual Production History (APH) floor a boon for low production years.

August 2000

• Georgia Producers Gain APH Floor and Lower Premiums for 2001, August 21 -- "I couldn't farm without crop insurance," says producer James Roy Malone, Jr., of Laurens County, Georgia.

July 2000

• Marketing Clubs Make Sense to Montana Producers, July 21 -- Terry Anvik, Richland County, MT, wheat farmer, thinks the marketing club he helped start for local farmers just might be the ticket for surviving the current low price cycle that plagues U.S. farmers.

April 2000

• Levee Holds Back Waters and...More, April 27 -- Ten years after Donald Laprairie and his neighbors built a levee to keep floodwaters at bay in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, the structure is playing an important role in reducing their crop insurance costs.
• Seminoles Plan for Success -- April 7 -- Carolyn Billie, operations manager for the Seminole Tribe of Florida, Inc., not only has a head for business but has a clear vision of what's needed in the future to keep tribal business profitable.
• Lenders Bank on Crop Insurance, April 6 -- What does it take to get an agricultural loan these days? "A lot more than it did 20 years ago," said Mark Scanlon, Director of Agricultural Finance for the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA).

March 2000

• Managing by the Numbers, March 31 -- Today's competitive marketplace dispenses little grace to dairy farmers who don't keep track of their financial status -- and the average price they need per hundredweight this year just to break even.

January 2000

• Making the Grade in Montana, January 11 -- Dave and Barbara Broberg, who farm in Montana's Golden Triangle, had more than a passing interest in the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, Washington. On 3,500 seeded acres where rainfall is a scant 10-12 inches per year, they grow 150,000 bushels of wheat and barley in an average year, much of which is exported. They would like to nudge Uncle Sam a little to enable them to compete better in the global economy.

December 1999

• Pennsylvania Backs Talk with Action, December 16 -- Although insured farmers in Pennsylvania will receive nearly $40 million in payments for crop losses in 1999, more assistance was available through wider use of crop insurance. As a result, the State of Pennsylvania has just provided $5.6 million to make crop insurance more affordable.
  
• Going the Extra Mile (2 of 2 in a series), December 16 -- After a total of 5 weeks adjusting claims along the hurricane- and drought-stricken East Coast, crop insurance claims adjustor Lance King is glad to be back home in Lubbock, Texas. But he's ready to go the next time his skills are needed.
  
• Protecting Farm Revenue in NH, December 16 -- Before this year's pilot Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) insurance program, the very diversity that enabled the Whittemore's Brookdale Fruit Farm to prosper also precluded participation in any crop insurance program.
  Related items: AGR Pilot Program | AGR Factsheet (PDF file; 38Kb)

November 1999

• Surviving Floyd (1 of 2 in a series), November 23 -- The Stancill family home escaped engulfing flood waters from Hurricane Floyd, because it was built off the ground. But the waters destroyed a bumper cotton crop just before harvest.
  Related items: USDA Press Release | 2000 Proposed Irrigated Cotton Rates (PDF file; 57Kb) | 2000 Proposed Non-Irrigated Cotton Rates (PDF file; 57Kb)
• Bucking Tradition in NE, November 5 -- It wasn't so long ago that the role of America's farm women was considered an adjunct to the main business of growing crops. Now, as financial management and marketing assume critical importance in the survival of the family farm, New England's farm women are bucking their perceived traditional roles. RMA joins New England partners to sponsor three Women in Agriculture workshops that will explore the changes taking place up on New England farms.
  Related items: New England Women in Agriculture Workshop information

October 1999

• Old Farm, New Trick, October 4 -- David and Lorraine Tuttle manage a farm in Maine that has been producing crops since 1743. Looking for new ways to stay in business for another 256 years, the Tuttles did the impossible -- discovered a good use for old tax forms.
  Related items: AGR policy; PDF file, 91Kb
• Farmers Workers Transition from Employee to Employer (Entrenamiento en Manejo de Riesgos Ayuda a Latinos Cambiar de Ser Trabajadores de Campos a Dueños de Ranchos), October 4 --Through a grant and technical assistance from RMA, Latino farm workers from California's Central Coast are able to improve their problem-solving skills. Risk management training is an important component of a 3-year apprentice program operated by the Rural Development Center in Salinas, CA.
  Related items: Press release | Comunicado de prensa
• Clam Growers Catch a Wave, October 4 -- Innovating to stay profitable is a way of life for Bill Thompson of Indian River County, Florida. The latest wrinkle is participating in RMA's first program to insure an aquatic species -- clams.
  Related items: Clam policy; PDF file, 33Kb | Press release