Trevor Robbins
Appearances
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Yep. Yeah. So base rate is set by the government, by county. So they will vary, you know, that way as far as base. But it also, there are so many factors that come into premium when you start looking at, individual growers APH. So when you start looking at that, you start looking at those coverage levels you're electing.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
All in all, just the easiest way to say it though, is that that is one thing that's unique about crop insurance is every company sells the same product. Unless we start talking private products, it's the same product, same price, each county. So I can't go sell it cheaper in Polk County than another agent or another AIP. It is set by the government base rate.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Base rate this year has gone up a touch, but with all the options and things added, it's kind of unique because we're actually looking very similar to what we did last year.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So as far as the price drop, we had some there. Now, what was unique about last year is even though that price was starting to drop in the fall, we had really good crops in some areas. Now, some areas had some, you know, southern Minnesota, for example, had a rough year. But we looked in Iowa, and some of the outlook wasn't great, but we ended up having some really good crops.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So we had some claims with the revenue drop, but it wasn't as bad as what it might have been in a year where we had poor production.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So actual production history is going to be your average. So let's say we're taking that one farm and we're looking at the average year over year, and we're trying to build a 10 year history. So as the, as the years come in years go out. So each year, and if you're on a rotation, it's every other year on that particular unit. we're taking that yield and that's our bare bones yield.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
We're essentially lining up with the policy. Now, how we figure that APH, there's other common options that are in there. One thing, and maybe you guys are familiar with it, is trend adjustment. So that's been out a little while.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Trend adjustment was really brought about because of the rotation and because of the different varieties of corn, different hybrids, both on corn and beans and the varieties there that were improving every year. It was hard to make that APH catch up essentially. So as you have common options built in, that's another thing that your agent will talk to you about. Trend adjustment, for example.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Also, we have what we call yield substitutions. So in those years where you have a poor yield, there are common options built into the policy that enable and mitigate those disaster years, so to speak. So let's say you have a, you have a corn crop that on average we're doing 200 plus bushel, but this year we have 120 or whatever.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
We've got stuff built in to be able to mitigate that and keep that APH integrity. So it's not just one year is not. So you're trying to eliminate some outliers. Yep. Trying to eliminate some of that. And also just knowing that in the, you know, in the world that we work in, in, on, in farming, um, that weather impacts year to year. We don't want one or two really bad years to just dissolve that.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
You get 350 bushel. So yeah, and that's what we're seeing as well, right? So we're seeing those years that now it's bumped my APH up a bunch because I've had that really good year. And that's okay. Now there is something to be said about, Um, the biggest thing is integrity of that production is making sure we have our records, right. Right.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
And make sure we have the records in place, uh, so that we can always prove those records.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Yeah, just a little. I can talk a little bit of that. ARC and PLC are FSA administered programs. So They're essentially free programs to sign up for. That deadline has extended this year from the FSA side. So that's administered by USDA. So it's just a different arm of USDA and what we're working with. But ARC and PLC have an April 15th deadline this year.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So you've got your ag risk coverage and then your price loss coverage. Now to get into the too many details of those, I can't necessarily speak to that because I'm not an FSA person. FSA, you know, not real well versed in that side of it, but I can tell you how it impacts crop insurance.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
The biggest thing when we start talking about the supplemental products on crop insurance, PLC is a little bit more lenient. If you pick ARC at FSA, for example, that cannot be elected with SCO in supplemental coverage option. But yeah, so that is one thing that just came up. They've got a month extension on that.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Now, what's unique about that is when you're making those decisions for crop insurance, for example, for SCO, and you go to pick ARC at FSA and those can't go together, then essentially the SCO would not be in effect. So, yeah, that's kind of what, as far as a holistic look at those programs. The other thing with FSA programs, they're looking at base acres.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So we're looking at planted acres on the farm every year from a crop insurance standpoint. Those base acres that are set at FSA, those are the acres that are going to be looked at for payment.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
yeah in our world but and some of that is off you know looking at historic payments as well and then looking at the outlook of this year and how does it closely related to last year the year before so and those definitely those definitely come up in crop insurance as well but again not administering those programs we don't touch those as much so you said the deadline was extended why and tell when
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So until April 15th, and great question on why. So as far as the why behind it, not 100% certain. Because we can't.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Yep. That is correct. So those supplemental products, private products, a lot of, a lot of the listeners probably, you know, have either talked about or have a crop hail policy, for example, or a private product. Those are the products that are going to set those, those companies apart. Um, So those are the products that we can administer.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Some of our rules or how we administer those products are based on just even state ratings and things like that. But that is not something that is subsidized by the government. Those are all. That's what then is each company can offer on their own. And they truly are supplemental products.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
It's a way to take what I have from multi-parallel crop insurance and how do I add to that to mitigate my risk? What can I build on upon with those private products? So that is essentially in a nutshell what those private products do for those companies.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So let's just talk about the county level products first a little bit. So let's just say I do have that 85%. Some of my options right now, and this has been in play for a few years, but we have these acronyms again, we've got SCO and ECO. So supplemental coverage option and enhanced coverage option. Those are some options that I can take.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
One thing as an insured that I want to be talking with my agent about not only on prices, but how those work. So those are county level products. So for us, we're looking at revenue protection on an individual. So I'm looking at my own farm. The SCO, ECO product is looking at the individual county level.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So it's looking at how does the county do, and then what did that county revenue or county yield do One thing that insurers need to be aware of, too, is those are paid a little later, especially for those that have had these products or maybe don't. Those are paid out the following summer. So, for example, if you buy that in 2025, it won't be paid out until June of 26.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So that's a county-level product. SCO, for example, will take you from your coverage level up to 86%. ECO will start, and you have got a couple options there, with 95%. down to 86 or 90 down to 86% at the county level.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Yep, it has so matched SEO this year. So that's another thing that we're seeing probably more insureds looking at ECO because it is a 65% subsidy. So and if I guess we just talk about subsidy a little bit, it's just if we're looking at $1 premium, the government then is paying 65% of that. So it's a 65, so 65 cents on the dollar is what they are paying. So that again is matching SEO.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
And I think that's why we're seeing more and more, more and more insurers looking at that this year.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
It's huge. And we could probably talk all day about that, right? If we talk from the ag market, from just even the American farmer, crop insurance sector, or anybody that's pro-farming in the United States, as we look at subsidy, really what it boils down to, and not to get too deep and heavy here, but really what are we trying to do? We're trying to feed, clothe, fuel the world.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Well, if our premiums are so high that insureds can't afford to operate, It makes it really difficult. And that's really in a nutshell. And a big answer is if we don't subsidize this and make it so unattainable to be able to pay a premium, it's really hard to operate year to year. And that's something that FMH, you know, crop insurance industry-wise, we're passionate about.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
That's the thing we're trying to do every year is make sure we have farmers farming every year. So that's a pretty important piece of our business. And that is why that subsidy is so important. There's tons of things, tons of... holes that they try to shoot into the program. Right.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
And say that it's not, you know, it's not necessary, but that really is at the, at the crux of the issue is we've got to be able to make it affordable for growers to be able to pay the premium, keep farming and have that safety net.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
You could actually just buy a supplemental product. Now, I'll say that with crop hail. So let's just go back to ECO, SCO a little bit. And I'll touch a little bit on our, and this is an FMH product. So ECO plus and SCO plus, those are supplemental products. Those do require you to have the federal product.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So those are essentially what we're looking at is we've got some county level coverage with SCO and ECO plus, or SCO and ECO, excuse me. And then I could potentially buy SCO or ECO plus alongside it. So then that also gives me the ability to have some of that individual top-down coverage. So I'm trying to close that gap if I'm at 80% or 85%. But yes, I would have to have those ECO, SCO.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Now, to go back to your original question there, Tanner, that let's just say I didn't have federal crop insurance. I could buy a crop hail policy. Now, what is a little bit different with a crop hail policy or private products? So when we look at multi-apparel crop insurance, we're looking at naturally occurring events.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So essentially, God made events that we would say are, again, out of our control weather-wise. Private products are a little bit different. So crop hail covers that. For example, our policy covers damage from hail, but it also covers fire damage. It covers theft, vandalism, malicious mischief, somebody drives in your cornfield, that kind of stuff. It also has stored grain coverage.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So when we've got on-farm storage going to the first place of processing, it covers some of that. So there's that that malt apparel wouldn't necessarily cover. So they really work in tandem hand-to-hand. And I know that's kind of a long answer to your question, but yes, the answer is you could potentially um, just have private products, are you going to have the most complete coverage?
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Probably not. Um, is really what that, what that would be. I was curious if it was even an option. Yeah, you bet. Absolute option. Why would we call it crop hail if it covers more than hail? So that's, that's always, um, yeah, it's always, I think it's one of those things that probably started out as crop hail and then every company's kind of built onto it, creating that package.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
And that's really part of the reason why when we, you know, I know we talked about, you know, not everybody wants to talk insurance, right? I'm passionate about it. It's what I do every day, but, um,
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
seeing as we've gone and evolved as as an industry and what we need to cover we see those issues that farmers face right you have a fire you have something that you have combine fire or you have something that you have damage to on-site storage where you got that grain sitting there and now it's it's essentially gone Right.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
And we've unfortunately seen a lot of that in Iowa the last few years when we've had derechoes and tornadoes and things like that.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Right. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, that's the thing, too. And I won't get too deep into who covers that and what. But there's also that that line where. Those naturally occurring events may happen, but that combine fire, for example, if we're looking at our own combine, we might have some coverage.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
If it's the farmer's combine, then we start to get into some lines where we have to make decisions on who's responsible, right? But yeah, it's always interesting, and we could come up with lots of examples, unfortunately, for that.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
You know, that is one thing I would say, too, if I could add, as you're looking at these decisions this year, you know, a lot of listeners are working with those agents. We've got a lot of really good crop insurance agents. That's what they do, right?
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
That's their business is to look at that and help you sit down and decide what's your bottom line and what are we trying to do from a marketing standpoint this year and how can we best protect every dollar. Yeah.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Yeah, so that's where the private products would come into play, right? So when we're looking at multi-peril, multi-peril crop insurance is covering it from the time it's in the ground to the time we harvest it, right?
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
But as far as the private product, that's where we want to have that protection to know, hey, if this is going to sit in the bin for a few months, I've got that coverage, that peace of mind. Now, there are some options on some regular farm insurance and things, which I'm not an expert on, but
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
The crop hail piece just primarily for our crop hail policy covers that and gives you some of that peace of mind as you're waiting to market that grain and offload it.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So we don't really have that built in.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
We don't have it built into the tractor or the combine or anything. You should adopt it. Maybe I have to pass that on, again, to the people that make the decision. Unfortunately, I don't make those calls, so the people that write my checks do.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Now, I will say, it's just like any other insurance product. It's rated based on what we see, right? And some of that comes from the states saying, hey, these win rates need to change a little bit. But, yeah, I mean, it's rated based on losses and things like that as well. Because at the end of the day, we're still a company trying to make money just like everybody else, too.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So we can't just sell – a product at the absolute cheapest we can sell it, and then just hope for the best, right?
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
I think that's a fair assessment as far as where we're going with AI in general, but not only just even the technology we have now compared to when I started in 2008. So it's changed so much, but business intelligence is huge, right?
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So having that AI that we have now and just being able to pinpoint what are creating those perils or those prices and things that we're looking to protect, what's creating the biggest issues with them? So I think AI is absolutely going to be something that is – you know, possibly industry leading and works into the equation.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Yeah. So we're, you know, and we're seeing a lot of that, as you mentioned, and seeing more and more of it every year. You know, individuals either starting farming or taking over operations. Uh, there are programs out there for FSA, but also for, for crop insurance, uh, the beginning farmer rancher program or veteran farmer rancher.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Uh, so if you qualify for those, now there's some, we won't get deep into the qualifications and things, but basically, um, we get some there. If I'm a beginning farmer rancher, if I haven't farmed for at least five years, I get some, some help on subsidy. So it's an extra bump in 10% on subsidy. Uh, there's some,
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Some different rules when it applies to being able to use APH from another grower or if I'm taking over an operation. Also, there are some a little bit bump in their yield substitutions as well. So on those years where we've had some rougher losses, their yield substitutions are a little bit higher. So their yield adjustments and things like that.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So there's definitely incentive for those insureds to be able to have that opportunity to get started. And that's why they were really built was to make sure we're incentivizing those new growers to come in and be able to farm.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
This is. Yep. So this is an RMA admission. And then veteran farmer rancher, it's a little bit younger. So BFR, we call it BFR, beginning farmer rancher started. And then shortly after, we saw the need for veterans that were in service of this country now wanting to farm and saying, how can we help veterans? get those individuals started. I wonder if Dave knew that last year.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Yeah. You know, and that's the good thing about, you know, a lot of agents will maybe have that idea. But I would say, you know, on behalf of the agent, I would say, too, that if you are new to farming, make sure you're telling your agent that. Especially if they're not a new, you know, maybe you guys are just now working together.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Some of them, we're in those small, you know, small areas where we know everybody knows everybody, right? But that's not always the case. So it's in fairness to your agent, make sure that they understand that, hey, this is my first year. I've been farming two years or whatever.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Because there's also some other things with the policy that they can take advantage of, for example, new producer and things like that.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
No, it's actually tracked off of your own individual Social Security number. So if you've ever farmed or if you've been attached to a program at FSA, we're able to tell, okay, they've – They've had row crop before, or they've only had it for two years. So it follows your own ID, and that is how it determines, how we determine on the crop insurance side.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Yeah, absolutely. So precision technology and, you know, again, working for FMH and that is one of our big, big components. So we consider ourselves the leader in precision technology. So we're taking that precision technology to the growers already using and then leveraging it for crop insurance as well.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So what we're trying to do and what we tell our insureds that are either using it or getting into it is the benefits of it and being able to use those exact planted acres. So again, they're using that for all sorts of decisions on the farm, right? You're looking every year at input costs based off my precision tech. We're using it that same way with crop insurance.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
It also assists us greatly in claims payments. So what's really important to our addressing team out there is not only first contact, getting out there, getting Getting that face time with the grower, making sure that we're expediting that claim. Precision helps out a lot. So those old, you know, when we say we got to go climb bins and measure bins and things, precision takes that away.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So we've seen a huge, huge dividends have been paid off in our ability to quickly pay claims off precision products. precision information, precision data that's pulled in. And we have API connections essentially with FieldView, MyJohnDeer, and we can use other farm management softwares to be able to administer that. Another thing is audits.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
You know, it's that word that nobody really wants to talk about, right? But it can happen at times where you have a large claim or you've got, you know, an audit that pops up, having those records, being able to pull those in and give that definitely helps because that's the actual data we're pulling off the monitor.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Well, and for you, it takes out the takes its peace of mind, takes out the headache, too, because if you've ever been part of the audit, it's an audit. It's now I have to go back and find a shoebox full of records. Right. I got to go look at those tickets that I've written down and thrown in the glove box of the semi or whatever.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Now we're printing tickets out and we're able to look at that and speed that process up.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Well, and when you first started that, did you have the, I think sometimes we had that misconception that, they had to match, right? That FSA, my acres, my FSA acres have to match my crop insurance acres. Well, that's not the case. So to your point, it's here's my actual acres. This is what I want to pay premium on, right?
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So that's also the differences in the programs, but that's also where we've seen with premium payment, it's instead of paying on the extra 25 acres that are listed, I'm paying on my actual planted acres now. Yeah.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Yeah, and the old drawn maps that have been there for a long time, and then now everything's changed, right?
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
It's a great question. You know, as far as what I can share, I mean, I think for us, from a product standpoint, we're going to remain with the same products we really had.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
I think the biggest thing for us is, you know, I don't know as far as coming down the pipe in the future, but for us, what we try to focus on every year is knowing the American farmer and knowing some of what they're seeing, right? and understanding what they're dealing with. I think for us, coming down the pipe is we want to continue our service.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
And I know that's cliche because I'm sitting here from a company standpoint and saying, but we truly look at if we want to keep people farming and we want to keep the ag industry strong, we have to be able to weather the storm in these years, so to speak.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
And knowing that we have a great adjusting staff, we've got, you know, I really, truly, we work with great people that are dedicated to ag, dedicated to insurance. and just making sure that every year we're keeping our service, we're keeping our products and things in line to where we can provide that service and provide those products every year.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
That is still a thing. Yeah. And in fact, there's thousands and thousands of acres insured under PRF right now. So across the country through multiple AIPs. Yeah. What do you want to know about it? Unique product.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Yep, correct. Be coming up. Yeah, it's a fall sales closing date, but essentially what you're doing. So it's not a drought product. What it is, it's a rainfall index product. It's PRF, Passion Range Land Forage. There's also, in certain states, annual forage and then also apiculture. It's all under the rainfall index criteria. grid, essentially.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So what you're looking at is you're looking at a certain timeframe throughout the year or multiple timeframes to say, in order to get the rainfall I need on that pasture or on that forage product, this is what rainfall is expected. If I buy during that portion of time, I can buy a coverage level. If the rainfall falls below that threshold, that's where we start seeing payments.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So you're really truly ensuring that you're going to get the rain you need in those areas, especially for those large forage growers, those folks that are doing hay every year, selling a lot of that, or just pasture. So we have a lot of acres insured under pasture we're running cow-calf operations on, whatever that may be. It's a really, really popular product with those groups.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
It is not. So that's one thing that it shouldn't be sold as drought coverage. But if you have a drought? If you have a drought, and again, it's on grids too, so it could be that it's a county-level product, so to speak. but it's on certain mile by mile grids.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So it could be, you have a farm, you know, 15 miles away is not going to do the same as the one you're you have right there may not get paid. It also is paid at intervals throughout the year. So that is one thing that's unique about it is it's not a once a year payment.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
If I have, if I'm insured in a couple different timeframes, like three months, two month intervals, I can be paid after that interval on that particular ground.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Yep. So that's where it becomes a careful on looking at it like a drought product. Cause when it, the way it's rated and the way it looks, looks at things are when do we expect that rainfall, but it's in those March and April timeframes where you expect to get more and you don't get that rainfall. So that's what it's trying to protect you for. So, Yeah. I'm glad you asked about it.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
You know, apiculture, honeybees. So we got to have rain to have, you know, pollinators and things like that for honeybees. So that's also a popular product in areas where, and we're seeing a lot more honeybees that are, you know, apiculture that is.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So hi, I'm Trevor Robbins. I'm a training and education manager with Farmers Mutual Hale Insurance Company of Iowa.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
You look at the bee map, they are everywhere. They are everywhere. And do you guys remember the times where we really wouldn't see any any beehives anywhere, you know, you may not see them. Well, now you get down the road and, you know, specifically where we're at in Iowa, we see a lot of beehives.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Yes. Yep. So, and some of that, the deadlines and things are past, but yeah, coming up, you know, there are still some products out there or some rules out there on cover crops. And I believe now I'd have to look and see as far as what I was planning on doing this year. I haven't looked at that recently. In the past there have been. Yeah.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Some states offer different things, but in the past, yeah, Iowa has had a $5 discount per acre on the cover crop.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Oh, I'm sure. Yeah, we could talk about this all day, right? No, I think hopefully. You could talk about it. Right, that's right. No, I think the biggest thing for guys that are looking at stuff right now this time of year, the best thing I can encourage is talk to your agent. Make sure you understand.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
I think as we talk about a plan for insurance, again, as you mentioned early on, it's not always the most fun thing to think about as you're looking at, especially looking at the pricing we have right now. But I think it's important to have that conversation with your agent to understand what is your cost per acre? You know, what's your input cost?
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
What's your cost of production so we can build that insurance package? You know, in years prior, we might be able to say that we could insure above that cost. Right now, with prices being squeezed and, you know, inputs not really changing, that's where it becomes more and more important to have these conversations and say, how can we close that gap?
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
And how can we start to ensure that we can even possibly get to that break-even point or ensure that we're protecting ourselves that way? So that's what I encourage listeners that are listening to just have those conversations and see what is your best risk protection package to be able to maximize that potential.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
By March 15th. So it actually falls on a weekend this year, so there's a little bit of lenience in there into the 17th, but essentially a lot of agents are going to say, let's get in here before March 15th and let's get this done. So March 15th is really the bogey here.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Today we're going to be talking about some of the 2025 decisions that are coming up for crop insurance as well as kind of what's happening in the industry with the farm bill and talk a little bit about prices and things and how we look to mitigate risk in a time where we've got those input costs raising and prices continuing to kind of remain steady or drop a little bit.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
I will do my best, gentlemen. Do my best.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
I might have to talk to my boss about adding the entertaining part of it, too.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Yeah, you bet. So I started in crop insurance in 2008. Just a little bit about me. Grew up in a small community. That's where we actually live now in southern Iowa. Never thought I'd be in crop insurance. Started out thinking I was going to be a history teacher. Had a buddy that was like, hey, do you want to get into... Working for a crop insurance company. Didn't have any idea what that was.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
And now here I am, 17 years later. So it's been a fun ride. But definitely a great industry to be a part of. Working with farmers, working with agents. It's a great job.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Not all of it is Farmers Mutual Hale. So started out with an approved insurance provider company, ProAg, started out with them, then moved to John Deere Insurance Company, and then John Deere Insurance Company was acquired by FMH in 2015, so been there ever since. So that's been kind of my path to FMH.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Yeah, so our team is, our responsibility is we go out and educate our agents mainly. So we do a lot of internal training, but a lot of our job is to go out and give updates to both product and our systems to our agent groups. So as we're working with those agents throughout the country. That is what our team is primarily charged with doing.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So just as that, training, education, and as you mentioned, that crop insurance being that large menu from 2008 to now, it's changed a lot. So our job is ever-changing, and we get updates every year, things we get to go out and talk about and make sure our agents have the best information so then they can then pass it on to the insured.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
It's a little bit tough. And so I apologize if I do talk in acronyms today. That is one thing we get a hard time for. Everything is in acronyms in the crop insurance industry. But something you kind of get used to along the way.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Yeah, so right now, as it sits today, crop insurance is still very viable, very strong. But with With anything, anytime we change an administration, there's always things, you know, up in question as far as how does this look. Currently, you know, for us, we always track the farm bill. So the farm bill being, you know, a large portion of what we do.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Crop insurance now, the farm bill itself, the vast majority of that is the nutrition program SNAP, right? So the farm bill covering crop insurance is what we would say is a small percentage of the pie is, you know, large number of dollars. But that's something we're always paying attention to. Right now, as it sits today, we've been extended to September with the farm bill.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Really how that impacts crop insurance is crop insurance is permanent law. So it is there so we can provide that coverage for growers every year. But the farm bill, what that enables us to do with a new farm bill is improve the products we have, improve our program overall, make changes, things like that. So as of right now, unless anything moves in
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
And as we know, a lot of stuff's changing right now. It's pretty fluid. Unless that anything moves yet this year, I would say will be a lot of this year before we're looking at that. Again, I'm not a political expert, so I can't tell you where that moves or how that would move. But we're always keeping an eye on it and seeing what it does.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Because every time we get a new farm bill, there will be something new generally with the crop insurance program, whether that's something new that we need to administer internally um, new products, um, options, things like that.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Correct. Great question. No, it wouldn't affect anything. Essentially what it does is it would then be, you know, our main risk management agency would at some point we would have certain what we call, um, contract change dates, things like that. They would say, hey, this is what's going to be administered the following year. So then that's where our team comes in.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
We go out, educate our agents to ensure that they're then able to go out there and educate all of you.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Yeah. So right now we're, well, especially for us here, Iowa, Midwest, I States, and then a lot of those areas with the March 15th sales close, we're looking really closely at the pricing, right? So we're in a discovery tracking period from start of the first goes through the 28th of this month, and then we'll have our prices.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So right now, you know, looked at them, you know, yesterday afternoon, this morning, we're tracking right around 467 on corn. like a little over $10.50 on beans for our projected price, which corn at this time last year was $4.66 is what we locked into. So we're tracking really close to the corn price.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Soybeans are a little bit down from projected price of last year, but they've gone up since the fall.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
It's going off December futures. Chicago Board of Trade figures is what we're tracking throughout the month.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
okay yep so it's another day in the average essentially so we're looking at that what do we average overall over that 28 day period to lock in and then then insurers will know what that projected price is for their their insurance but then there's also a fall price as well and it's the higher of the two it is the higher of the two depending on what you take right so maybe we get into that a little bit too but a vast majority of growers will take revenue protection um rp policy again one of those acronyms but revenue protection is what
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
the vast majority of insureds are going to look at, um, you know, very, very common, probably throughout the United States, our average, you know, you're probably looking at that 75% coverage level. So they're looking at a certain percentage to cover on that actual production history, that APH on the farm times that price, um, times your share percentage essentially.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Um, now where we're located here in Iowa, we see a lot of that 80, 85%. So they're looking at that price, um, ultimately with that revenue protection. Um, There are other options, APH options, things, but far and away, revenue protection is a lot of what we look at.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So most subsidized now, depending on, so on coverage level, for example, if you're on like enterprise unit structure, okay. As it sits today, I believe it's about 77% at the 85% level. Now, without having that chart in front of me, I think as you go optional units, now you're taking on, or essentially the government's getting a little bit more of that risk. Yep.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
The subsidy is more around the mid 50%, 55%.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Great question. So, you know, that enterprise unit is going to be, and that's, so enterprise essentially just think of if you've got five units. So when we talk about unit structure, we talk about sections. So for the listeners out there thinking about where my farms are located, these are decisions you have to make early on, but it's also an important conversation to have with your agent.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So an enterprise unit, for example, it's going to be less on premium. But what we're looking at is let's say I've got five units. I've got five fields spread out over the county. When we go to harvest and when we look at a loss, we're going to take those all together. So essentially we're putting them in a bucket, so to speak. One farm, one bucket. Yep. And then so one farm may do poor.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Another farm may do great. But we're taking the good from the bad. And then that's our payment if we have one.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
Exactly. You as the insured are taking on more of the risk in that case, but that's another way to look at how can I mitigate some of that cost up front. As we're looking at the margins we have right now, that's what we're looking at from an insured standpoint is how can I maximize those dollars? Now for some, and that's also an option by crop.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So if you're a corn and bean grower, again, anywhere growing, multiple crops have enterprise unit options. But if you're a corn and bean grower, it could be that your corn, when you're on a rotation with corn and beans, it might be that one year. your enterprise, and then your optional the next. So that can switch. It is continuous, but that's a conversation to have with an agent as well.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
And those agents out there will definitely be bringing that up. So then what's the optional? So the optional would be, let's say we take those same five farms and we're going to pay a little bit more premium, but we're now isolating those losses. So if four of the five do really well and my one doesn't so well, we're going to pay on that loss.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
So we're essentially being able to take that risk on an individual unit level. As opposed to just throwing them all together.
Farm4Profit Podcast
Making Smart Crop Insurance Decisions for 2025
It is. It is. So you could farm in Polk County and Story County separately. You could have your corn in Enterprise and Story and optional in Polk. And it's interchangeable throughout the county.