Resource Library

Commodities and Crop Insurance

The Congressional Research Service’s “Federal Crop Insurance: Background.” Dennis A Shields, 2015. This report offers a detailed history and current description of federal crop insurance programs under the farm bill.
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40532.pdf

The Congressional Research Service’s “Proposals to Reduce Premium Subsidies for Federal Crop Insurance.” Dennis A Shields, 2015. This report discusses how budgetary constraints might lead to debate about cutting insurance subsidies in the next farm bill.
http://nationalaglawcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/assets/crs/R43951.pdf

Agriculture Finance Review’s “The Potential for Crop Insurance Reform.” Nicholas D. Paulson, Bruce Babcock, and Jonathan Coppess, 2014. “The purpose of this paper is to discuss the growth and rising costs association with the Federal Crop Insurance program in the USA, justifications for public support, and recent reforms that have been implemented or proposed to reduce program costs.”
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/AFR-09-2014-0026

American Journal of Agricultural Economics’ “Crop Insurance Reconsidered.” Joseph W Glauber, 2004. This report offers a detailed history of crop insurance debates from the 1980s to the 2000s.
https://academic.oup.com/ajae/article/86/5/1179/72606/Crop-Insurance-Reconsidered

Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review’s “Climate Change and Federal Crop Insurance.” Change G Marzen and J Grant Ballard, 2016.  This article discusses how crop insurance could be reformed to encourage climate change mitigation.
http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2196&context=ealr

The National Resource Defense Council’s “Soil Matters: How the Federal Crop Insurance Program should be Reformed to Encourage Low-Risk Farming Methods with High-Reward Environmental Outcomes.” Claire O’Connor, 2013. This issue paper discusses how crop insurance could be used to incentivize better environmental practices on farms.
https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/soil-matters-IP.pdf