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2012 Crop Insurance Indemnities Set New Record

Crop insurance indemnity payments associated with the historic 2012 drought hit a record $14.2 billion this week and will continue to climb as insurers work to finalize the remaining claims. But according to projections released last week by the Congressional Budget Office, total indemnities and the taxpayer-funded portion of those losses, will be much lower than some think tanks and academics warned last summer. 

CBO predicted $16 billion in expected indemnities as a result of last year's catastrophic weather; however, CBO foresees a sharp decline in indemnities in 2013 with a return to more normal weather conditions.  Since August, the CBO has lowered its projections for total federal outlays for crop insurance by nearly $8 billion over the next 10 years.

NCIS says final program costs will reflect the $4.1 billion in premiums farmers paid to purchase insurance policies, losses by private crop insurance companies, as well as government investment.

The previous indemnity record of $10.8 billion was set to cover flooding in the Midwest and drought losses in the Southern Plains during 2011.

"The ability of the crop insurance industry to sustain back-to-back insured losses exceeding $10 billion, as it has done in 2011 and 2012, is a testament to the sound financial underpinning of the public-private partnership," said Tom Zacharias, president of National Crop Insurance Services.

"More importantly, unlike natural disasters before the emergence of crop insurance, all of the cost is not falling on the laps of taxpayers."

Zacharias explained that before crop insurance, natural disasters like last year's drought would have triggered costly ad hoc disaster bills, fully funded by taxpayers.  Forty-two such agriculture disaster bills have cost taxpayers $70 billion since 1989, according to the Congressional Research Service. 

"In addition to reducing taxpayer risk exposure, crop insurance receives high marks from those who buy it – our farmer customers – because of its efficiency and speed of delivery," said Zacharias. "Farmers will use their indemnities to recover from their loss and then plan for next year's crop," he said.

By comparison, the recent Hurricane Sandy disaster assistance bill took three months to be signed into law.  Relief payments to the victims, authorized by that legislation, have yet to be delivered.