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Making 2019 crop insurance decisions

The director for the Purdue Center for Commercial Agriculture says there are a lot of variables to consider when making 2019 crop insurance decisions.

Jim Mintert encourages producers in the Eastern Corn Belt to use enterprise units.

“The difference in premium rates can be quite substantial,” he says. “As you think about trying to reduce your production cost- your total cost for your corn enterprise or your soybean enterprise- this is something you should think about and still do a good job of managing risk.”  

He tells Brownfield although some producers may be concerned about costs, reducing coverage is not a good way to minimizes costs.

“If you start reducing coverage levels, you’re really not getting very much protection,” he says.

Mintert says farmers should look over options and not just do what they’ve always done.

“In some locations around Indiana area revenue protection makes some sense and that’s very county specific,” he says. “If you’ve never looked at that you’ll want to look at it and look at the cost for your county and the expected returns.”

He says ARP is not a good option in every county because there is more risk but expected returns can be substantial.

Sign up deadlines for crop insurance are February 28th or March 15, depending on location.