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CROP INSURANCE

P U B L I C A T I O N O F N A T I O N A L C R O P I N S U R A N C E S E R V I C E S TM

C r o p I n s u r a n c e K e e p s A m e r i c a G r o w i n g

todayThird Quarter 2020 | VOL. 53, NO. 3

2021Fall Train-the-Trainer Goes Virtual

2019 NCIS Agronomic

Research Results

CROP INSURANCE AGENTS: FOCUS ON

WHAT MATTERS MOST.At RCIS, we provide great support, service and tech tools.

As a result, you can concentrate on serving your area producers and growing your crop insurance agency business.

This is intended as a general description of certain types of insurance and services available to qualified customers provided solely for informational purposes. Coverage is underwritten in all states by Rural Community Insurance Company, Anoka, MN except in Montana where hail coverage is underwritten by Tri-County

Farmers Mutual Insurance Company, Malta, MT. Nothing herein should be construed as a solicitation, offer, advice, recommendation, or any other service with regard to any type of insurance product or services. Your policy is the contract that specifically and fully describes your coverage, terms and conditions. The

description of the policy provisions gives a broad overview of coverages and does not revise or amend the policy. Coverage may vary by state. Coverages and rates are subject to individual insured meeting our underwriting qualifications and product availability in applicable states. RCIS is a registered trademark of

Rural Community Insurance Company. RCIC is an equal opportunity provider.

© 2020 Rural Community Insurance Company. All rights reserved.

CROPINSURANCE TODAY® 1

Continued on page 32

Tom Zacharias, NCIS President

C r o p I n s u r a n c e

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This is the third “post” in a four-part series ti-tled “For the Want of a Nail.” As has been our cus-tom, we begin with the words of the proverb, as converted to song by Todd Rundgren. Interested readers can also find the “proverb of the nail” in other outlets or venues, including: Ben Franklin (Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1758); Mary Robinette Kowal (Asimov’s Science Fiction, September 2010); and John Gower (first English version, late 14th century).

“The Want of a Nail”“… For want of a nail the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe the horse was lost. For want of a horse the rider was lost. For want of a rider the message was lost. For want of a message the battle was lost. For want of the battle the war was lost. For want of the war the kingdom was lost”

For the third quarter edition of TODAY® magazine it seems appropriate to focus on a particular lyric, “…the message was lost…”

As we live out our lives under the perva-sive and apparently unrelenting cloud of the COVID-19 pandemic we are facing mixed mes-sages about how to move forward as a country in the midst of new scientific understanding and changing information. There are lots of messages and lots folks carrying these messages.

Well, we can only control what we can control,

right? Our world is one of crop insurance. And the world of crop insurance has expanded remarkably since the early days of the 1980s. Perhaps more relevant is the modern era of crop insurance that began with the passage of the Crop Insurance Re-form Act of 1994, which followed in the wake of the devastating floods of 1993. In 1995, the first year of implementation of the 1994 Act, the Fed-eral crop insurance program protected 220 mil-lion acres with $24 billion in liability protection. Fast forward 25 years to 2019 and the program has grown significantly, with more than 380 million acres insured and $110 billion in liability protec-tion. The entire industry, including both the pub-lic and private sectors, have invested a great deal of time, hard work, and commitment to position crop insurance as the centerpiece of the farm safe-ty net. Farmers across the country depend on crop insurance to be there when disaster strikes. Not to make them whole, but to allow them to plant a crop again next year.

So, what is the message here? Many years ago (and you may remember this story from an earli-er president’s message), I was running an errand with my oldest granddaughter when from her car seat came the question “...what is it you do?” I re-member thinking through all of the things our association and industry deals with on a daily basis and all of the ways I could try and explain

The entire industry, including both the public and private

sectors, have invested a great deal of time, hard work, and commitment to position crop insurance as the centerpiece

of the farm safety net.

CROP INSURANCE AGENTS: FOCUS ON

WHAT MATTERS MOST.At RCIS, we provide great support, service and tech tools.

As a result, you can concentrate on serving your area producers and growing your crop insurance agency business.

This is intended as a general description of certain types of insurance and services available to qualified customers provided solely for informational purposes. Coverage is underwritten in all states by Rural Community Insurance Company, Anoka, MN except in Montana where hail coverage is underwritten by Tri-County

Farmers Mutual Insurance Company, Malta, MT. Nothing herein should be construed as a solicitation, offer, advice, recommendation, or any other service with regard to any type of insurance product or services. Your policy is the contract that specifically and fully describes your coverage, terms and conditions. The

description of the policy provisions gives a broad overview of coverages and does not revise or amend the policy. Coverage may vary by state. Coverages and rates are subject to individual insured meeting our underwriting qualifications and product availability in applicable states. RCIS is a registered trademark of

Rural Community Insurance Company. RCIC is an equal opportunity provider.

© 2020 Rural Community Insurance Company. All rights reserved.

“For the Want of a Nail”(Third in a Four-Part Series)

2 THIRDQUARTER2020

Laurie Langstraat, Editor

TODAY® IS PROVIDED AS A SERVICE OF

NATIONAL CROP INSURANCE SERVICES® TO EDUCATE READERS ABOUT THE RISK MANAGEMENT TOOLS PRODUCERS USE

TO PROTECT THEMSELVES FROM THE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH

PRODUCTION AGRICULTURE.

TODAY is published quarterly by National Crop Insurance Services

8900 Indian Creek Parkway, Suite 600Overland Park, Kansas 66210

www.ag-risk.org800-951-6247

If you move, or if your address is incorrect, please send old address label clipped from recent issue

along with your new or corrected address to the NCIS address above.

NCIS® EXECUTIVE COMMITTEEKendall Jones, Chair

Michael Smith, Vice ChairTim Weber, Second Vice Chair

NCIS® MANAGEMENT

Thomas P. Zacharias, PresidentCharles Lee, General Counsel

Sherri Scharff, Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff

Troy Brady, Senior Vice President

Creative Layout and Design by Cogent Ideas Inc

www.CogentIdeasInc.com

Printed on recycled paper. Printed with Environmentallyfriendly vegetable oil based inks.

CROP INSURANCE

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1President’s Message “For the Want of a Nail”

52021 Fall Train-the-Trainer Goes Virtual

8Crop Insurance and Cover Crops

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Copyright Notice All material distributed by National Crop Insurance Services is protected by copyright and other laws. All rights reserved. Possession of this material does not confer the right to print, reprint, publish, copy, input, transform, distribute or use same in any manner without the prior written permission of NCIS. Permission is hereby granted to Members in good standing of NCIS whose Membership Class (and service area, if membership is limited by service area) entitles them to receive copies of the enclosed or attached material to reprint, copy or distribute such NCIS copyrighted material in its present form solely for their own business use and solely to employees, adjusters or agents who are under contract with them, and as a condition to receiving such copies, such employees, adjusters and agents agree that they will not reprint, copy or distribute, or permit use of any such NCIS copyrighted material to or by any other person and/or company, or transform into another work such NCIS copyrighted material, without prior written permission of NCIS. © 2020 National Crop Insurance Services, Inc.

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todayThird Quarter 2020 | VOL. 53, NO. 3

Table of Contents

31

16

28

12What’s Growing On? Soybean Gall Midge—A New Threat to Soybean

162019 NCIS Agronomic Research Results

282019 U.S. Premium and Loss Ratio Statistics

31In Memory of Michael R. McLeod

12


THE PROAG PLEDGE Here at ProAg, we appreciate that you have put your trust in us. Whether it is our interactions, handling your grower’s claims or helping you become a better agent - you expect it to be done well and consistently. As a valued partner, our pledge to you and your growers begins with the following commitment to earn your trust and loyalty every day:

COMMITTED, KNOWLEDGEABLE PEOPLEBecause many of us are farmers and ranchers ourselves, we have a first-hand understanding of agriculture and the risks inherent in the profession. If we don’t know the answer, we are committed to finding it and sharing it with you as quickly as possible

We pledge to continue to keep our team well-trained, professional and up-to-date with the latest information.

Because of these pledges, our employees will continue to deliver an outstanding customer experience to you.

This is our pledge to you and your growers, so you can continue to grow with confidence.

CONTACT YOUR TRUSTED PROAG REPRESENTATIVE FOR MORE INFORMATION TODAY.

ProAg.com | @ProAgIns 800.366.2767

Not all coverages or products may be available in all jurisdictions. The description of coverage is for informational purposes only. Actual coverages will vary based on the terms and conditions of the policy issued. The information described herein does not amend, or otherwise affect, the terms and conditions of any insurance policy issued by ProAg or any of its subsidiaries. | ProAg is an equal opportunity provider and employer. In accordance with Federal law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, its Agencies, offices, and employees, and institutions participating in or administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity (including gender expression), sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, family/parental status, income derived from a public assistance program, political beliefs, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity, in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA (not all bases apply to all programs). A member of the Tokio Marine HCC group of companies. | ©2020 ProAg All rights reserved.

2020 July NCIS CIT Ad ProAg Pledge Committed Knowledgeable People.indd 12020 July NCIS CIT Ad ProAg Pledge Committed Knowledgeable People.indd 1 7/7/2020 3:47:35 PM7/7/2020 3:47:35 PM


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2021 Fall Train-the-Trainer Goes Virtual

When I left Kansas State University for spring break earlier this year, I thought that I would return to school in a week. But, be-cause of COVID-19, I haven’t stepped foot on campus since early March. I moved home and finished the semester with online classes.

Upon my return to NCIS in late May (I was an intern last year as well) things were beginning to reopen, but there were still challenges to hav-ing large groups of people gather in one location, and still are today. However, one of the primary functions of NCIS is to ensure that Approved In-surance Providers (AIPs) have the most current information on policy and procedural changes so they, in turn, can train their agents and adjusters. So, for the safety of all attendees, and the need to complete the training, NCIS made the decision that the Fall Train-the-Trainer conference would be held virtually.

The Training Department at NCIS, along with other staff members, worked diligently to adapt to hosting the conference virtually. Early on this entailed selecting the best platform for providing the training and learning its capabilities. Zoom was selected and then began the task of working with presenters to ensure materials were suitable for the format and planning detailed rehearsal sessions.

In the final weeks leading up to the event the main goal was to ensure that everything was in place so the conference would provide the infor-mation in the best way possible. To achieve this, staff created a show flow (a script-like document listing the presenters’ times, breaks, transitions,

etc.), held rehearsals, and implemented back-up plans should there be any connectivity issues. Ad-ditionally, NCIS staff ensured that the computers, keyboards, microphones, etc., used during the conference were sanitized and that staff who were in the NCIS office during the training were so-cially distanced.

While staff were in the NCIS office to make their presentations, other guest speakers present-ed their materials from their homes. This could have been a challenge, but all were well-prepared to share policy and procedural changes as well as provide updates on a variety of topics.

Tom Zacharias, President of NCIS, began

the conference by expressing his gratitude to the AIPs for attending and their willingness to adapt to a virtual environment. The virtual envi-ronment proved to be successful as a record 427 people attended the conference. In her opening remarks, Lynnette Dillon, Director of Training and Education at NCIS, acknowledged the ne-cessity of the conference, stating it was essential because the information shared ultimately gets passed onto farmers who need it to make deci-sions about their risk management plans.

Mandy Welton, Risk Management Agency (RMA), provided the first update with her pre-sentation on the Hurricane Insurance Program.

By Alyssa Milliken, NCIS Intern

NCIS training department staff Lynnette Dillon (left) and Mollie Dvorak (right) prepare for the virtual Fall Train-the-Trainer Conference at the NCIS office. NCIS IT staff, Kevin Wilson, (behind Lynnette) helped set up and test the technology used to host the Zoom conference.

6 THIRDQUARTER2020

She focused on the Hurricane Insurance Pro-tection —Wind Index (HIP-WI) Endorsement. This endorsement adds coverage for hurricanes to existing MPCI policies. It covers the deduct-ible portion of the MPCI policy, not otherwise covered, up to 95 percent of the crop value. More than 70 crops are covered by the endorsement and it is offered in areas with at least a two per-cent chance of getting hit by a hurricane.

During the first day, Ashleigh Russell, Chris Lindsay, Jessica Trites Rolle, Lynnette Dillon, and Mollie Dvorak, all from NCIS, explained changes to crop policies and procedure. Their presentations included updates on the Written Agreement Handbook, Crop Insurance Hand-book, and General Standards Handbook. They also covered policies, endorsements, and forms, as well as updates to the Dairy Revenue Protec-tion policy and Multi-County Enterprise Units. Ross Heiman, RMA, provided an update on the Production and Revenue History Pilot for strawberries. His colleagues, Erin Albright and Sarah Kliethermes, presented an update on the Common Crop Insurance Policy and Area Risk Protection Insurance Basic Provisions. They also provided a Coarse Grains Crop Provisions update and Andrew Mawson, also of RMA, dis-cussed the Quality Loss Option.

Collin Olsen, Topeka Regional Office, provid-ed a Breached Levee Repair Update in response to the new risks caused by the floods in 2019. There are 24 counties in Missouri, Kansas, and

Nebraska that still have breached levees. The 6/30 Actuarial Information Browser maps will be up-dated in early September to reflect certifications of repair received this summer.

On the second day, Kim Harris of Agrilogic Consulting LLC, presented on a series of topics including California Citrus Tree, Florida Citrus APH, and Hemp. In the hemp presentation she shared that there are 21 states with APH Plan availability. In 2019, Colorado, Kentucky, and North Carolina had reported the most hemp acreage to the Farm Service Agency. She noted that there have been requests to expand the pro-gram to additional states for the 2021 crop year.

Isac Shelton and Ben Marcy of RMA dis-cussed Nursery Value Select and the Large Claims Process. Pam Bollinger of RMA provided a COVID-19 update, and in her presentation, she referenced several bulletins released by RMA per-taining to COVID-19. There is now a COVID-19 section that can be found on the RMA website, www.rma.usda.gov. There, AIPs will find a link for the bulletins, FAQs, and press releases. There is also a second link with COVID-19 information and resources for farmers.

At the end of the conference, NCIS staff Dean Strasser, Jessica Trites Rolle, Loretta Sobba, Mark Flohr, and Therese Stom provided information on policy and procedure changes for Whole Farm Revenue Protection, IT, Crop-Hail, and more.

Following the completion of the conference, attendees were asked to respond to a survey to

provide feedback on the training (all responses were anonymous). One respondent said that the conference was, “…very well done. I thought it went extremely well for a webinar of that mag-nitude.” Another respondent said, “…kuddos for coordinating and orchestrating webinar presen-tations. Hiccups were minor and few, but not disrupting.” We appreciate the feedback and wel-come additional comments from other attendees.

For the first attempt at a major training we-binar we were pleased with the outcome. There are, however, a few minor things that will be done differently for future conferences. We learned that presentations in a webinar setting are much different than an in-person setting, for both the presenters and attendees. For future virtual con-ferences, we intend to work with the presenters to make the presentations more engaging. We also plan to emphasize the need to highlight key take-aways from each presentation.

Several survey respondents suggested that NCIS break up the training materials and allow for more time away from the computer screen. Many emphasized that it is difficult to focus in front of a screen for long periods of time so future conferences will likely include more frequent breaks. Staff will also start working on a plan to possibly host the conference over a series of more than just two days.

Another recurring suggestion was that pre-senters include practical examples in their ma-terials. There were other recommendations from

Presented at the 2021 NCIS Train‐the‐Trainer Fall ConferenceJuly 14‐15, 2020 Breached Levy Repair ‐ 2

March 2019 • Flooding on Niobrara (NE)

Elkhorn (NE),Platte (NE), Missouri and Mississippi rivers (& their tribs)

• Breached levees in several counties

• Upriver of KC & STL hard hit

May/June 2019• Recurrent severe flooding

on Missouri and Mississippi rivers

• Breached several more levees in several more counties

• Downriver of Kansas City and upriver of St Louis hard hit

Missouri River –Jackson Co, MO

Missouri River –Atchison C0, MO

2019 Floods & Breached Levees

3

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Missouri

Nebraska

The information displayed in this map is intended to serve as an aid in displaying data provided or stored by the Risk Management Agency. It does not modify, replace or supersede any USDA published policy provisions orprocedures.Maps created by USDA Risk Management Agency are for spatial and visual context for depicting the basic information for “where”. Maps are not considered a survey. General Reference Only

-- For Internal Use Only --

Acres Exposed by Breached LeveesCropland Acres Subject to Additional Flood Risk

Map Creation Date: November 27,2019 Layer Credits: USDA & NOAASource: USDA Risk Management Agency Data Current Date: November 26, 2019Map Projection: USA Contiguous Albers Equal Area ConicRMA Risk Management Services Division

Exposed Acres≤2,000 ≤10,000 ≤20,000 ≤30,000 ≤82,000

This map depicts the total acres of land exposed to a higher risk of flood due to breached, unrepaired levees that are subjectto the 2020 Breached Levee Special Provision of Insurance statement. It illustrates the total number of cropland acres withinthe county exposed by these levee breaches.

4


the survey such as sharing impending changes for all fall crop policies and allowing more time between the release of new programs, endorse-ments, etc., and their implementation that NCIS plans to communicate to RMA.

One attendee summed it up best by saying, “…I wasn’t sure how this would work but you did a great job with it. [It] felt very polished from this end.”

Overall, NCIS is pleased with the success of the first ever virtual Train-the-Trainer Confer-

ence. In preparation for future conferences, the goal is to further polish and refine the virtual ex-perience for NCIS members. Thank you to all of the presenters and members who attended. We appreciate your help and support.

Presented at the 2021 NCIS Train‐the‐Trainer Fall ConferenceJuly 14‐15, 2020 PRH ‐ 1

Angie Conchola

Production and Revenue History (PRH) ‐ Strawberries

Risk Management Specialist

Ross Heiman

Chief of the Prices Branch

PRH Overview

• Offered under the Common Crop Insurance Policy Basic Provisions• Basic Provisions PRH General Provisions Crop Provisions

• Choice of yield or one of two revenue plans: Yield, Revenue, and Revenue Plus; future crops may offer yield only

• Yield guarantee same as APH• Price based on producer’s own revenue history

• Requires additional reporting• Generates more tailored guarantees

• Designed for specialty crops

PRH ‐ 2

Tuesday MorningWelcome Tom Zacharias, NCIS

NCIS Update Lynnette Dillon, NCIS

Hurricane Insurance Program Update Mandy Welton, RMA

Multi-County Enterprise Unit (MCEU) Jessica Trites Rolle, NCIS

Dairy Revenue Protection (DRP) Update Jessica Trites Rolle, NCIS

Breached Levy Repair Update Collin Olsen, Topeka RO

Written Agreement Handbook Mollie Dvorak, NCIS

Production and Revenue History (PRH) Ross Heiman & Angie Conchola, RMA

Farmers have long been the original stewards of the land, adapting constantly to changing seed genetics, available technology, Mother Nature, and new perils that can damage their hard work almost overnight. While turning a profit is always the goal, every farmer knows that caring for the land is of utmost importance to ensure the suc-cessful continuation of the operation. Utilization of cover crops is one way farmers prioritize the health of their soil, making choices that positively impact their cropping systems.

Cover crops have been around in one fash-ion or another since the beginning of agrarian societies. Today cover crops have emerged at the forefront of agriculture. Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SARE) estimates that cover crops are protecting and improving nearly 20 million acres of cropland. Ten years ago, cover

crops were not as well known, but education and outreach programs have reached farmers and they have reaped the varied benefits that cover crops can provide.

Adding cover crops to conventional cropping systems can enhance the resiliency of the over-all system through soil health. The Natural Re-sources Conservation Service states, in general, that organic matter levels have fallen from five or six percent to less than three percent on most cropland soils. Improving organic matter levels is paramount for producers as organic matter is the foundation for the benefits that revolve around soil health.

“The main thing for me is soil health first be-cause if we can’t get organic matter levels to in-crease then we’re just wasting our time out here,” said Darin Williams, a farmer from Waverly,

Kan. “A lot of these farms we started on with cov-er crops ten years ago were in the 2-2.4 percent level [of organic matter] and now we’re seeing 3-3.2 percent readings on a lot of those farms.”

For Williams, cover crops also provide enough weed control that he does not have to rely on herbicide-resistant soybean cropping systems. He plants non-GMO soybeans that draw a pre-mium and are more profitable for his operation.

Besides soil health and weed suppression, a few of the additional benefits cover crops provide are insect suppression, erosion control, improved groundwater quality, and improved soil tilth. For farmer John McFarland of Ottawa, Kan., erosion control is his primary focus.

“I use it as something to keep the soil in place when we don’t have a crop growing on it,” McFarland said.

Crop Insurance and Cover CropsBy Alyssa Milliken, NCIS Intern, and Dr. James Houx, NCIS


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Cereal rye terminated and waiting for soybean planting. This farmer prefers to plant green, but planting was delayed at the last minute by unexpected rainfall.


Because of the varied benefits, cover crops have an off-farm impact too. Cover crops less-en runoff and leaching from fields and reduce silt loads and nutrient loss to waterways and groundwater thus improving water quality on a watershed scale. These off-farm benefits are a fo-cus of the Iowa Water Quality Initiative. The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Steward-ship, in conjunction with the Risk Management Agency (RMA), is offering premium discounts to acreage grown with cover crops. The crop insurance industry is participating in this state’s incentive program as well as programs in other states, including Illinois. This proactive support by the crop insurance industry is another exam-ple of why the public-private partnership works to deliver crop insurance to our nation’s farmers.

A farmer’s reason for integrating cover crops vary because the benefits and practices can be lo-calized. But for some, the adoption of cover crops came from necessity.

“When I first started planting cover crops in 2012, that was the year it was really, really dry,” said McFarland. “We baled all our corn stalks off and the ground was just like powder. I was scared to death it was going to blow away, so we planted rye in it.”

It appears that he may not have been the only farmer feeling that way in 2012. SARE’s last cover crop census found that between the years 2012 and 2017, cover cropping increased by nearly 50 percent in the United States. In the Midwest Corn Belt states, the increase was astounding. Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, and Illinois each experienced a more than 100 percent increase in the number of acres planted to cover crops.

With this growth, cover cropping received specific attention in the 2018 Farm Bill. The farm bill provides that cover cropping will now be considered a good farming practice (GFP). As a good farming practice, cover cropping is treated the same as any other management practice, and once the cash crop is planted, insurance attaches.

“I think they’ve changed their thinking a lot in the last five to six years on cover crops and I haven’t had any problems at all as far as crop in-surance is concerned,” said McFarland.

Farmers can ensure that their cover cropping management system is a good farming practice by following the Natural Resources Conserva-tion Service’s (NRCS) Cover Crop Termination Guidelines Version 4, dated June 2019. The cur-rent guidelines still offer the 4-Zone (geograph-ic-based) termination guidance of pre-approved

termination times found in previous versions, but flexibility is added for locally adaptive man-agement. For instance, farmers have the flexibili-ty of delaying termination by utilizing published materials from agricultural experts that support their management following the RMA’s GFP De-termination Standards Handbook. For additional flexibility, farmers may request exceptions from the zone-based guidelines by receiving written support from an agricultural expert, per the GFP Handbook.

The GFP Handbook defines an agricultural expert as, “…person(s) who are employed by the Cooperative Extension System or the agricultur-al departments of universities, or other persons approved by the Federal Crop Insurance Corpo-ration (FCIS), whose research or occupation is related to the specific crop or practice for which such expertise is sought. Persons who have a per-sonal or financial interest in the insured or the crop will not qualify as an agricultural expert. Contracting with a person for consulting would be considered to have a financial interest and a person who is a neighbor would be considered to have a personal interest.” The GFP Handbook offers an explanatory note in Exhibit 2 describing

specific examples of who is considered an agri-cultural expert.

The current NRCS guidelines resulted from an inter-agency work group organized by the NRCS, RMA, and the Farm Service Agency (FSA). This collaboration brings together expertise in crop insurance, conservation, and farm program services and greatly improves consistency and communication between federal, state, and pri-vate stakeholders. The guidelines integrate new knowledge and data relating to cover cropping management and adoption that has expanded greatly since the last revision of the termination guidelines six years ago.

The latest guidelines are working because they support farmers’ decisions about the man-agement of their farms and corrects the ambi-guity of terminology and guidance provided in previous versions. These guidelines should be long-lasting, yet flexible, and as such will relieve confusion resulting from rapidly changing guid-ance in past years. A farmer’s and the crop in-surance industry’s understanding of where cover crops and crop insurance stand before the season begins is a great improvement.

Another positive change that removes uncer-

Terminating cereal rye. The corn planter followed the sprayer and the field was planted green so that the cover crop could maximize biomass at termination.

10 THIRDQUARTER2020

tainty regarding cover crops is that corn will not be considered an acceptable cover crop on acre-age following a crop that has been prevented from planting. This change is effective for crops with a Contract Change Date (CCD) of June 30, 2020. The crop insurance industry appreciates this pol-icy change and hopes that it will remain effective for the November 30, 2020 CCD crops as well. For corn to provide any benefits expected from cover crops, it needs to be planted at rates that are twice as high as standard corn rates. With seed costs of modern corn hybrids higher than $100 per acre, there is little economic justification for a farmer to plant corn as a cover crop. Nonetheless, agricultural experts were divided when suggest-ing planting rates and, in some states, corn was planted as a cover crop at rates more suitable for silage production than as a cover crop.

Crop insurance professionals understand the value of cover crops in the agriculture landscape. Many company personnel are farmers and plant cover crops every year and they see the benefits firsthand. Further, adjusters walk thousands of acres each season and see cover crops and con-servation practices at work. They are experts in their field and understand the interconnection between farmers, the crop insurance industry, and federal agriculture policy.

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Emerged corn crop three weeks after planting green in cereal rye. This farmer primarily uses cover crops to manage erosion during the winter and early spring, but recognizes the benefits

of weed suppression, soil moisture retention, and soil health.

MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE IS THE ONLY WAY TO LIVE.

Farming is your way of life. When you know it’s protected, you have the freedom to focus on what matters most.

Find out how Crop Risk Services can help you #FarmBold.

Crop Risk Services products and services are reinsured to Stratford Insurance Company and subject to availability and qualifications. Terms in the Revenue Net policy govern; other terms, conditions and exclusions may apply. This does not constitute an offer of any product in any jurisdiction and is for marketing purposes only. Crop Risk Services is an equal opportunity employer and provider, in accordance with U.S. Federal civil rights law, regulations and policies.

Group Creative Director: Steve CaseyArt Director/Designer: Chris Corum (Freelance)Copywriter: Eric SchlauchPhoto Source: GettyImages-692734539Image Usage Rights: Royalty freeRetoucher: Ryan MoedePrepress: Ryan MoedeArt Producer: Kayla Laufenberg Account Manager: Kendra Moser Print Producer: Lynn WalstromProject Manager: Anna WinbergProduction Artist: Joy Miller

Crop Risk Services: Print Ad“Making the most of life is...”Pub: Today Magazine

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In 2018, I was visiting a National Crop Insur-ance Services (NCIS)-sponsored corn research project in Nebraska with Dr. Roger Elmore, Nebraska’s Extension Cropping Systems Agron-omist. Before we headed west towards Clay Cen-

ter, Roger wanted me to see a hail machine that a former student, and now Assistant Professor, Justin McMechan, developed. We drove up to the University of Nebraska ENREC station near Mead where Justin was headquartered at the time

and were treated to a test drive of his new hail machine.

After the demonstration, we were inspecting the damage to the plants when Justin pulled up a wilting soybean plant to show me something.

What’s Growing On?Soybean Gall Midge—A New Threat to SoybeanBy Dr. James Houx, NCIS

Soybean stem infested with soybean gall midge larvae. The burrowing and feeding activities destroy tissue that supplies the plant with water and nutrients.


He split the stem and proceeded to pick out tiny white and orange insect larvae. Justin said they had caught an adult earlier in the season and it was a new pest that was yet to be identified. In that area, there were numerous plants display-ing the same symptoms, so I pulled one up and, sure enough, larvae were found burrowing in the stem. The adult midge that was captured was a new midge species that now has a scientific name, Resseliella maxima, but is commonly re-ferred to as Soybean Gall Midge. And it has some well-known relatives, including the Hessian fly.

Justin began working with NCIS on the corn research and, last August, I returned to Nebraska to visit some new corn stand reduction research on the Mead farm. While driving in Eastern Ne-braska on our way to see the popcorn stand re-duction research near Central City, we saw many fields where the new insect species was damaging plants. It was obvious. Justin was concerned be-

cause damage was extending further into fields in 2019. And, in some cases, most plants in the infected areas were dead.

It is possible that the Soybean Gall Midge has been in Nebraska for nearly a decade, but no one knows for sure. In 2011, orange larvae were found in plants that were, for the most part, hail damaged or diseased. They were ignored because the insect damage was not prevalent, and the emergence of the adults occurred later in the sea-son. At that time, larvae were not collected so re-searchers are not certain if those larvae were Soy-bean Gall Midge. But, in 2018, growers in more than 60 counties started to notice a midge and, with damage detected early in the season, ento-mologists and soybean agronomists took notice.

It is not every day that a new insect threat that attacks one of the nation’s most widely grown crops is discovered in the central United States. As a new species, little is known about the Soy-

bean Gall Midge. So, last year Justin and col-leagues from Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dako-ta set traps to capture adults to learn about their emergence patterns. While sampling was lim-ited, they discovered that three generations can emerge in a single season. One generation that overwinters in previous year’s soybean fields, and two generations that come from larvae produced in the current season.

When adults emerge, they look for a place to oviposit eggs. Early season emergence in June coincides with when soybean is typically in the early V-stages. At these growth stages, soybean stems are rapidly enlarging and often develop stem fissures—cracks along the stem length. Adults tend to lay eggs near the soil line on the developing soybean stems and fissures are be-lieved to be a possible location for ovipositing eggs. This provides easy access into the pith of the soybean stem when the larvae hatch.

These infested soybean plants are wilting and mostly dead. Damage such as this can extend well into the field and result in 100 percent yield loss in affected areas.


Once in the stem, the larvae feed on stem tissue that supplies water and nutrients from the soil to the top of the plant. In mild cases yield is lost, plants show signs of wilting, and the stem is weakened and becomes susceptible to break-over. In other cases, soybean plants wilt and die.

“In 2019, it was 21 days after adult emergence that we noticed wilting. I think the time period was similar again this year,” Justin said.

Once the larvae enter the soybean stem, they are protected because contact insecticides cannot reach the larvae. Thus, at this stage of development, controlling Soybean Gall Midge is difficult. Pesticide researchers are examin-ing a number of strategies relating to timing, rates, periodicity, and chemistry. As of now, the only recommendation is to target adults with pyrethroid chemistries with residual activity before they lay eggs. While seed treatments may offer some protection, these insecticides and over-the-top applications of contact insec-ticides cannot offer enough residual protection because the adult emergence and egg laying window is too wide and is getting wider than in 2019.

Last year, researchers opined that if soybean planting was delayed, farmers might miss the adult emergence window. In 2019, an average of 16 days of emergence was recorded at a given site.

“We blew that away this year,” Justin said. “If emergence from overwintering sites stops now (mid-July) we will have an average of 26.5 days with the longest at 34 days—far longer than 2019.”

As such, even soybean planted at the end of June are still at risk.

Justin is confident that fields that held Soy-bean Gall Midge the previous year are a source for the insect the following year. And, in 2020, insect emergence from this year’s soybean started before emergence had even completed from last year’s soybean fields.

“This overlapping emergence of prior year’s and current year’s generations complicates the problem by allowing last year’s Gall Midge to exchange genetic information (through breed-ing) with this year’s, and by simply extending the emergence window,” Justin said.

Two additional hosts have been identified for Soybean Gall Midge that occur in perennial her-baceous vegetation in field borders and ditches. These observations have led to some thinking that mowing grassy borders may reduce damage; however, researchers have not fully tested this hy-pothesis, so it is not currently a recommendation.

Fortunately, damage is limited to field edges so far. But damage caused by Soybean Gall Midge has resulted in 100 percent yield loss in heavily infested areas up to 100 feet from the field edge, and losses up to 20 percent at greater distances. Narrow fields are at risk for even greater losses because a larger area of the field is on the edg-es. In 2019, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach reported that a farmer with an infested field had yields ranging from 4.3 to 43.9 bush-els per acre. That same field typically yielded 70 bushels per acre. Losses of this magnitude are attention grabbing.

Recently Justin spent several weekends in July traveling through eastern Nebraska looking for the insects. On one of those days he stopped at 34 randomly selected soybean fields and found the Midge in every field. Although visible dam-age was not apparent at every site, Justin was sur-prised by how prevalent the Midge has become. He plans to travel south and randomly check soy-bean fields along the Kansas border to get a grasp on the regional extent of infestations in 2020.

Farmers are hopeful that, as researcher learn more about the insect, a containment strategy will be found soon. As mentioned, this pest was not really causing much damage a few years ago. But Soybean Gall Midge is becoming more prev-alent, and along with that will come yield loss. While losses can be indemnified under a Federal crop insurance policy, developing good farming practices to deal with this pest is troublesome. As mentioned, a few insecticides offer some level of control, but multiple applications are hampered by re-entry restrictions and may be too costly anyway. Interestingly, hail damage does create in-fection sites and is linked to the presence of Soy-bean Gall Midge. A graduate student researcher working with Justin will conduct research this fall to determine if damaged soybean elicit a chemi-cal cue that attracts the Midge. Further, Justin and colleagues are conducting management studies this year to see if they can find strategies that can reduce the impact of this insect.

“There are early signs of progress; however, we will need to wait for yields to determine their value,” cautioned Justin.

Extensive damage to field edges is common. Although this area is not large, the midge will overwinter in this field and be a source of emerging adults next year.

16 THIRDQUARTER2020


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ag-risk.org

For more than 90 years, National Crop In-surance Services (NCIS) and its predecessor or-ganizations have conducted research on grow-ing crops. Updates to, or new loss adjustment procedures originate from the NCIS Agricul-ture Research program, under the direction of the NCIS Board of Directors. The projects are conducted at university experiment stations and agricultural colleges across the United States, as well as some locations in Canada. Re-search projects are typically conducted at least three years; however, if for some reason the re-sults cannot be obtained for one or more years, the project may be extended.

To understand the crops and appraisal methods that need to be researched, NCIS re-lies on company field adjusters, claims super-visors, and university researchers for advice. The NCIS research program then focuses on designing experiments that will result in data to create up-to-date, consistent, and timely loss adjustment procedures. NCIS currently has 15 research projects across 12 states, from Wash-ington to Ohio, and from Saskatchewan, Can-ada, to Texas.

In 2019, NCIS performed research on cano-la, corn, grain sorghum, industrial hemp, pea-nut, popcorn, potato, sugar beet, sweet corn, and wheat. The results are summarized below and are preliminary. It is important that these results are not used exclusively, but combined with results from previous years’ research, and any subsequent evaluations, to provide the best loss adjustment procedures for NCIS members.

CANOLAKansas

2019 was the final year of a three-year MPCI project to develop a method to predict canola

grain yield prior to seed maturity. Researchers at Kansas State University in Manhattan took more than 30,000 measurements on 38 growth and yield variables tracking the whole-plant, pod,

and seed development characteristics during the growing season. Despite this large dataset, no in-season measurements were able to consistent-ly predict end-of-season yield. The poor predic-

2019 NCIS Agronomic Research ResultsBy Drs. Mark Zarnstorff and James Houx, NCIS

TABLE 1

Effect of Multiple Defoliation Events on Corn Production

Stage of 50% Defoliation Loss (%)

Significantly 1st Defoliation 2nd Defoliation Appraised Measured Difference Different?

10-Leaf — 6 9 3 No 15-Leaf — 15 22 7 Yes Blister — 22 20 -2 No Milk — 18 21 3 No Soft Dough — 12 20 8 Yes 10-Leaf Blister 25 26 1 No 10-Leaf Milk 22 28 6 No 10-Leaf Soft Dough 16 21 5 No 15-Leaf Blister 28 36 8 Yes 15-Leaf Milk 26 38 12 Yes 15-Leaf Soft Dough 22 31 9 Yes

Minnesota–2 Year Average

On

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tive performance of the model was likely due to canola’s indeterminate growth characteristics and the plant’s rapid response to changes in growing conditions.

CORN Second LossMinnesota, Illinois, Ohio

In 2018, NCIS began research in Minnesota, Illinois, and Ohio to evaluate second losses on

corn. Prior research assessed defoliation at the 10 and 15-leaf stages followed by additional defoli-ation at either 15-leaf or tassel stage. The current research focuses on defoliation at the 10 and 15-leaf stages with second defoliations occurring at reproductive stages during grain fill. Results are presented in Tables 1, 2, and 3.

CORN Stand ReductionMinnesota, Nebraska, Iowa

Research began in 2019 in Minnesota, Nebras-ka, and Iowa to continue evaluating stand reduc-tion losses on corn. Prior research evaluated stand reduction from the 10 to 17-leaf growth stages and resulted in the development of a separate stand reduction chart for the 11 to 17-leaf growth stag-es. Current research evaluates stand reduction at the 15-leaf, 18-leaf, and tassel stages to determine whether stand reduction losses after the 17-leaf stage should be counted on a 1-for-1 basis. Due to wet soil conditions, researchers in Iowa were unable to apply the stand reduction treatment at

TABLE 3




10-Leaf — 6 8 2 No 15-Leaf — 15 13 -2 No Blister — 22 25 3 No Milk — 18 18 0 No Soft Dough — 12 8 -4 No 10-Leaf Blister 25 24 -1 No 10-Leaf Milk 22 22 0 No 10-Leaf Soft Dough 16 17 1 No 15-Leaf Blister 28 24 -4 No 15-Leaf Milk 26 25 -1 No 15-Leaf Soft Dough 22 21 -1 No

Ohio–2 Year Average

TABLE 2




10-Leaf — 6 -5 -11 No 15-Leaf — 15 17 2 No Blister — 22 18 -4 No Milk — 18 15 -3 No Soft Dough — 12 10 -2 No 10-Leaf Blister 25 20 -5 No 10-Leaf Milk 22 19 -3 No 10-Leaf Soft Dough 16 13 -3 No 15-Leaf Blister 28 24 -4 No 15-Leaf Milk 26 21 -5 No 15-Leaf Soft Dough 22 23 1 No

Illinois–2 Year Average

TABLE 4

Corn-Stand Reduction

Stand Reduction % 25 50 75 Growth Stage Loss%

15-Leaf 10 30 55 11-Leaf Chart 16 31 60

18-Leaf 16 34 50 Tassel 16 38 58 1-for-1 Chart 25 50 75

Minnesota–2019

TABLE 5



15-Leaf 14 28 56 11-Leaf Chart 16 31 60


Nebraska–2019TABLE 6



18-Leaf -2 10 39 Tassel -2 13 47 Blister 4 24.1 33.7 1-for-1 Chart 25 50 75

Iowa–2019

Popcorn may respond to high levels of stand reduction by increasing the number of ears per plant.


the 15-leaf stage. Therefore Table 6 only shows the results for the other three stages of growth. The full results are presented in Tables 4, 5 and 6.

CORN Green SnapMinnesota, Nebraska, Iowa

Green snap is defined in the policy as the

snapping of the main stem “occurring below the main ear.” Previous green snap research evalu-ated this type of stem break, which resulted in new procedures to handle this type of loss. Ad-justers have requested a procedure that assesses breaks that occur above the main ear because current NCIS procedures do not directly address

this type of loss. Therefore in 2019, NCIS began research in Minnesota, Nebraska, and Iowa to evaluate stem breaks above the main ear that oc-cur at the 15-leaf, 18-leaf, and tassel stages. Due to wet soil conditions, researchers in Iowa were unable to apply the stand reduction treatment at the 15-leaf stage. Therefore Table 6 only shows the results for the other three stages of growth. Results are presented in Tables 7, 8 and 9.

GRAIN SORGHUM Stand ReductionKansas, Texas

In 2017, NCIS began grain sorghum stand reduction trials in Kansas and Texas—the top

TABLE 13

Popcorn Average Percent of Loss From Stand Reduction Compared to the Current Appraised Losses

Applied Stand Ears/Plant Loss% Current Growth Stage Reduction Chart Loss

0 1.1 0 0 25 1.2 6.3 5.9

5-Leaf 50 1.3 25 24.5

75 1.7 56.3 56

0 1.1 0 0 25 1.2 6.3 5.9

10-Leaf 50 1.3 25 24.5

75 1.7 56.3 56

0 1.1 0 0 25 1.3 15.5 25

15-Leaf 50 1.6 34.7 50

75 1.7 61.6 75

TABLE 7

Corn-Green Snap


15-Leaf 9 19 32 11-Leaf Chart 16 31 60

18-Leaf 9 17 25 Tassel 7 16 24 15-Leaf Chart 25 50 75

Minnesota–2019

TABLE 8

Corn-Green Snap


15-Leaf 18 29 40 11-Leaf Chart 16 31 60


Nebraska–2019

TABLE 9

Corn-Green Snap


18-Leaf 3 28 35 Tassel 7 11 31 Blister 10 28 12 1-for-1 Chart 25 50 75

Iowa–2019

TABLE 10

Percent Loss of Grain Sorghum

Planted Population 40,000 Per Acre 80,000 Per Acre Stand Reduction % 25 50 75 90 25 50 75 90 Growth Stage Loss%

5-Leaf 9 11 28 52 2 12 18 36 5-Leaf Chart 11.5 28 56 82.5 11.5 28 56 82.5

Boot 5 29 50 71 8 20 52 70 Soft Dough 16 41 67 85 15 44 69 84 1-for-1 Chart 25 50 75 90 25 50 75 90

Averaged Across Locations in Kansas (2017-2019) and Texas (2017-2018)

High levels of stand reduction result in heavy tillering in grain sorghum. Although tillering compensates greatly for stand reduction, a split crop results when stand reduction occurs after reproduction begins.

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two production states for this commodity. The trial evaluates 25, 50, 75, and 90 percent stand reduction at two planting populations (40,000 and 80,000 seeds/acre), and three growth stag-es: 5-leaf, boot, and soft dough. These growth stages coincide with growing point differen-tiations of grain head development and grain filling. The preliminary results (three years in Kansas and two years in Texas) indicate that the current stand reduction chart over-estimates losses at the 5-leaf growth stage for both plant populations (Table 10). Current procedures count stand reduction losses at the boot and dough stages on a 1-for-1 basis, but this research indicates losses at the boot stage are considerably less than 1-for-1 (Table 10). Losses at the dough stage are greater than those observed at the boot stage but are also less than 1-for-1 (Table 10).

INDUSTRIAL HEMPNorth Dakota

NCIS initiated research in North Dakota in 2018 to study the effects of stand reduction on seed production in industrial hemp. Industrial hemp has many different uses including fiber, seed for vegetable oil production, and produc-tion of cannabinoid (CBD) materials. Hemp research has recently been allowed again as a result of changes that occurred in the 2018 Farm Bill and the drug’s reclassification by the Drug Enforcement Agency. This research is being conducted at Langdon and Prosper to study the impact of stand reduction treatment to a ‘dioecious’ variety at three different growth stages. The growth stages are V3 (three pairs of leaves), V7 (7 pairs of leaves), and V9 (9 pairs of leaves). Stand reduction was done at 0, 20, 40, 60, and 80 percent and the results are shown in Table 11.

TABLE 11

Industrial Hemp Response to Stand Reduction at Langdon & Prosper

Stand Reduction % 20 40 60 80 Plant Stage Loss%

3 Pairs of Leaves 7 -3 0 10 7 Pairs of Leaves 0 9 7 15 9 Pairs of Leaves 5 6 16 24

North Dakota (3 site average)

This field of hemp on the left had 80 percent stand reduction applied at the V3 stage on July 1, 2019, and the field on the right is the stand reduction check plot. Photos were taken August 5.

Dr. Burton Johnson, North Dakota State University, checking the seed fill on industrial hemp stand reduction trial.

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22 THIRDQUARTER2020

PEANUT Plant DamageGeorgia

NCIS developed research trials in 2018 at Tifton, Ga., to evaluate plant damage effects on peanut production. Researchers applied 33, 66, and 99 percent plant damage at 30, 60, 90, and 120 days after planting. These planting dates rep-resent a wide range of growth stages from ear-ly vegetative to near maturity. Results from the first two years suggest that losses increase with 1) increasing plant damage, and 2) number of days after planting (Table 12).

POPCORN Stand ReductionNebraska, Ohio

Popcorn stand reduction research was com-pleted in Nebraska and Ohio in 2019. The trial consisted of applying stand reductions of 25, 50, and 75 percent at the 5, 10, and 15-leaf growth stages. The results were similar to research con-ducted on dent corn in 2013. These results indi-cated stand reduction loss from the 11 through 17-leaf growth stages are not as great as current-ly appraised. Losses at the 5 and 10-leaf stages were nearly identical to the current charts for the respective growth stages and levels of stand re-duction (Table 13.). Losses at the 15-leaf growth stage were less than the current 1-for-1 appraisal. The data suggests that, because stand reduction increases the growing space, plants compensate by increasing ear production per plant. At the highest levels of stand reduction, popcorn plants averaged 1.7 ears per plant compared to 1.1 ears per plant when no stand reduction occurred.

POTATOES-CREAMERS Plant DamageWashington, Wisconsin

The potato industry is developing differ-ent types and varieties of potatoes to meet

TABLE 14

‘Blushing Belle’ ‘Creamer’ Potato

Tuber Size Growth Stage Under-Sized Creamers (Ideal) Over-Sized % Damage CWT/A

0 3 111 175 33 3 111 128 Tuber Initiation (8 DAE)

66 3 130 126 99 5 100 161 0 3 111 175 33 4 103 160

Row Closure (16 DAE) 66 13 99 86

99 4 96 44 0 3 111 175 33 5 112 98

Pre-Harvest (24 DAE) 66 8 120 59

99 12 131 21

Plant Damage–Washington

TABLE 12

Peanut Response to Plant Damage

Tifton, Georgia

Level of PlantDamage (%)

Days After Planting 30 60 90 120 Loss%

0 0 0 0 0 33 23 45 56 50 66 30 50 65 63 99 57 80 94 91

The peanut plants on the left had 99 percent damage applied 30 days after emergence and the plants on the right had the same amount of damage applied at 120 days after emergence. This shows that peanut plants can recover from complete defoliation when it occurs early in the season (left), but when it occurs mid-to-late season, the crop does not have time to recover.

On the left, Wisconsin Creamer potatoes had 100 percent damage applied on July 8, 2019. The photo was taken on July 30 showing how the plants can recover over time. On the right, the same variety of potatoes but with no damage applied. Photo taken July 30.

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consumer tastes. “Creamer” size potatoes are the most recent type developed for consump-tion in either processed meals or as an easy, quick side dish. They are smaller, with a short growing season, and have different growth habits than traditional varieties of potatoes. Research began in Washington and Wiscon-sin in 2019 to determine how plant damage may influence growth and production of this newer potato type. Two varieties were used at each location with ‘Blushing Belle’ common to both locations with damage applied at var-ious growth stages based on days after emer-gence (DAE). Damage affected the distribu-tion of tuber size at both locations (Tables 14, 15, 16, and 17.)

SUGAR BEET Stand ReductionMinnesota, North Dakota

NCIS began sugar beet stand reduction re-search in 2018 with North Dakota State Univer-sity at Ada, Minn., and Prosper, N.D. Stand re-duction treatments consisted of a check and 20, 40, 60, and 80 percent of the normal seeding rate with stand reduction applied at three growths stages, 4 to 6, 8 to 10, and 10 to 12-leaves. Stand reduction at the 12 to14-leaf stage had lower root yields compared with the earlier stages (Table 18). Root yields, percent sucrose, and recoverable sugars were reduced at the highest levels of stand reduction (Table 19.)

SWEET CORN Stand ReductionMinnesota

Sweet corn stand reduction research at the Southern Minnesota Research and Outreach Center in Waseca, Minn., and the Arlington

TABLE 16

‘Blushing Belle’ ‘Creamer’ Potato



66 22 206 58 99 26 158 11 0 23 249 87 33 24 205 60

Row Closure (16 DAE) 66 25 185 46

99 34 105 1 0 23 249 87 33 30 211 33

Pre-Harvest (24 DAE) 66 42 169 10

99 49 53 0

Plant Damage–Wisconsin

TABLE 15

‘Bintje’ ‘Creamer’ Potato



66 6 69 197 99 3 21 28 0 5 110 196 33 5 89 152


99 8 47 157 0 5 110 196 33 6 86 130


99 15 104 10

Plant Damage–Washington

Researcher Tom Peters, with technician, Alexa Lystad, and student, Jeff Stith, examine sugar beets for the stand reduction trial.


Research Center in Arlington, Wis., began in 2017. Sweet corn stands were thinned 25, 50, and 75 percent at three growth stages, 5, 10, and 15-leaf. In Minnesota, losses were less at all growth stages than current charts indicate (Table 20). This was particularly evident at stag-

TABLE 17

‘Baby Boomer’ ‘Creamer’ Potato



66 43 176 11 99 41 134 5 0 48 199 20 33 44 177 16


99 48 93 3 0 48 199 20 33 47 169 10

Mid-Bulking (21 DAE) 66 57 160 11

99 47 54 2 0 48 199 20 33 60 125 7

Late-Bulking (33 DAE) 66 64 85 4

99 72 43 3 0 48 199 20 33 56 119 5


99 62 86 2

Plant Damage–Wisconsin

TABLE 18

Sugarbeet Stand Reduction–Growth Stage

Growth Stage Root Yield (tons/acre) Sucrose (%) Recoverable Sucrose (lb./acre)

4 to 6 Leaf 35.2 15.8 9696 8 to 10 Leaf 35.1 15.5 9495 12 to 14 Leaf 32.6 15.8 9025

North Dakota and Minnesota–2 Year Average

TABLE 19

Sugarbeet Stand Reduction

North Dakota and Minnesota–2 Year Average Stand Reduction Root Yield (tons/acre) Sucrose (%) Recoverable Sucrose (lb./acre)

Check 38.1 15.9 10602 20% 36.8 15.8 10184 40% 36.9 15.7 10098 60% 34.5 15.6 9423 80% 25.1 15.2 6719


5-Leaf 1 5 21 5-Leaf Chart 10 22 50 10-Leaf 7 16 37 10-Leaf Chart 10 22 50 15-Leaf 17 30 57 15-Leaf Chart 25 50 75

TABLE 20

Sweet Corn Stand Reduction

Minnesota–3 Year Average


5-Leaf 0 5 14 5-Leaf Chart 10 22 50 10-Leaf 8 18 34 10-Leaf Chart 10 22 50 15-Leaf 12 20 38 15-Leaf Chart 25 50 75

TABLE 21

Sweet Corn Stand Reduction

Wisconsin–3 Year Average

es beyond 11 leaf where the current charts ap-praise a 1-for-1 loss. Results in Wisconsin were similar to those in Minnesota but were less at the 15-leaf stage, and losses are considerably less than 1-for-1 losses appraised with current charts (Table 21).

WHEAT STEM BREAKSKansas

In 2016, NCIS developed research in con-junction with Kansas State University on winter wheat at Manhattan—a Zone 1 location. The re-search was expanded in 2018 to Garden City—a Zone 2 location. The trials were designed to evaluate the current chart factors for hanging wheat heads broken above or below the flag leaf. Treatments consisted of breaking-over all wheat heads in each plot at the boot, milk, anthesis, soft dough, and hard dough developmental stages. At Manhattan, high hanger (above flag leaf breaks) losses at all growth stages were considerably less than the current chart factors for Zone 1 wheat (Table 22). Low hanger (below flag leaf breaks) losses at the boot, anthesis, and soft dough stages ranged from 11-29 percentage points less than the current Zone 1 chart factors. Losses at the milk and hard dough stages were within five percentage points of the current chart factors. At Garden City, high hanger losses at all growth stages were also considerably less than current

26 THIRDQUARTER2020

TABLE 22

Research Loss Percentage and Corresponding Appraised Loss Resulting from Above and Below Flag Leaf Breaks

Manhattan, Kansas Garden City, Kasas

Breakpoint Zone 1 Zone 2 Growth Stage (Flag Leaf) Loss % Loss Factors Loss % Loss Factors

Anthesis Above 28.2 60 35.9 80 Milk Above 31.6 40 26.9 70 Soft Dough Above 20.5 30 15.6 60 Hard Dough Above 8.7 20 32.4 50

Boot Below 31.1 50 38.7 50 Anthesis Below 29.6 40 38.5 40 Milk Below 33 30 37.7 30 Soft Dough Below 11.4 20 23.5 20 Hard Dough Below 13.9 10 28.2 10

Manhattan, Kansas (Zone 1) and Garden City, Kansas (Zone 2)

chart factors for Zone 2 wheat. Low hanger losses at the boot stage were lower than current chart factors and those at anthesis were consistent with current chart factors. Low hanger losses at milk, soft dough, and hard dough stages were greater

than current Zone 2 chart factors.The NCIS agronomic research program could

not happen without the support of NCIS member companies. We value their financial support and input on the crops to study and implementation

of the results. The research conducted provides the science behind the industry loss adjustment procedures. Crop insurance loss adjusters then have the knowledge they need to accurately de-termine crop damage. This gives farmers peace of mind knowing that their crop has been adjusted fairly. Look for future NCIS agronomic research reports to provide final conclusions on these re-cent studies, as well as updates to loss adjustment procedures, where applicable.

The NCIS industry awards were first established in 2001 to honor individuals who provide exemplary ser-vice to the crop insurance industry. The awards recog-nize those who consistently demonstrate outstanding leadership by their willingness to serve the industry by going above and beyond their roles with their individ-ual companies.

In the last 20 years, more than 50 exemplary people have received recognition and honor by their peers in the industry. All nominations are reviewed by the NCIS Communications & Outreach Committee with final nominees approved by the NCIS Board of Directors.

Beginning with the award ceremony in 2021, a new industry award has been created to recognize in-dividuals who have been instrumental in the success of the crop insurance industry but who may not fit the criteria required with the other award categories. The Friend of the Industry award will recognize an individual who has provided an exceptional and nota-ble contribution to the crop insurance industry. This person may either work in crop insurance directly or is part of another organization and exhibits outstand-ing leadership and guidance to, and knowledge of the crop insurance industry.

Eligible candidates must: • Make notable contributions in support of the crop

insurance industry over a significant period of time;

• Distinguish themselves by this service such that clear evidence is present and can be readily documented;

• Exhibit strong personal and business ethics; and, • Represent themselves, their company, and the crop

insurance industry well.

Other industry awards include:The Outstanding Service Award is presented

to a crop insurance agent or individual outside of the industry who provides exceptional service in-dustry-wide and outstanding outreach efforts to all farmers, especially limited-resource and/or socially disadvantaged farmers.

The Industry Leadership Award is targeted pri-marily to members of the NCIS regional/state crop insurance and/or NCIS standing committees and rec-ognizes individuals who consistently serve the industry by providing outstanding leadership and service to a regional/state and/or standing committee.

The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to those people who have served or are currently serv-ing in leadership capacities within the industry and who exhibit(ed) outstanding leadership, guidance and knowledge to and of the crop insurance industry.

Criteria for all awards are: • Strong personal and business ethics. • Demonstrated service above and beyond the crop

insurance industry. • Represents themselves, their company and the crop

insurance industry well.

The winners are presented with their awards at the Crop Insurance Industry Annual Convention held in February of each year.

All nominations must be submitted in writing to NCIS by October 15, 2020, for awards to be presented at the 2021 Annual Convention. For nomination infor-mation and forms to be submitted, please visit https://cropinsuranceinamerica.org/resources-materials/ to download. If you have any questions regarding the cri-teria for the awards, please contact Laurie Langstraat at NCIS at [email protected] or 913-685-2767.

NCIS AddsNew Industry Award Category

Compliance Team with a unique, friendly and proactive approach, resulting in accuracy and speedy claim payment.

Industry-leading Pasture, Rangeland and Forage (PRF) claim payment turnaround due to unique forecasting methods.

Committment to developing sound, innovative products that support your farmers, ranchers, business and growth.

PRF experts, mapping tools and processing efficiencies make rolling, quoting, keying and reporting acres a cinch!

© 2020 Hudson Insurance Group. All rights reserved. Hudson Insurance Group and Hudson Crop are equal opportunity providers and employers. All coverages underwritten by Hudson Insurance Company.

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U.S. MPCI LOSS RATIO BY STATEAll Crops • All Losses • All Policies

AL15

AZ42

AR102

CO144

CT 0

DE 8

GA22

KS118

OK80

TX113

NM77

UT12

WY88

MO71

NH 0

VT 0

RI 0

NJ 0

NY0

PA41

VA39

NC107

SC22

WV0

OH47

WI46

NV3

NE100

MT106

MS29

ND132

MN151

SD106 MI

40

MA 0

MD 0

ME0

LA194

TN114

KY163

IA54

IN57

IL57

ID80

OR94

WA38

FL24

CA27

0 to 35

66 to 100

101 and up

36 to 65

Data Source: NCIS 6-B Adjusted Verified Totals as of 07/14/2020.

© National Crop Insurance Services 07/2020.

AL90

AZ55 AR202

CO54

CT 6

DE 37

GA109

KS43

OK69

TX115

NM81

UT75

WY91

M0114

NH 54

VT 129

RI 111

NJ 101

NY134

PA58

VA74

NC127

SC101

WV40

OH213

WI110

NV75

NE47

MT70

MS155

ND103

MN138

SD167 MI

184

MA 49

MD 40

ME65

LA154

TN69

KY90

IA44

IN122

IL103

ID59

OR72

WA69

FL48

CA84

0 to 35

66 to 100

101 and up

36 to 65

Data Source: RMA Summary of Business as of 07/13/2020.

Prepared By National Crop Insurance Services 07/2020.

Alaska 15Hawaii 147

U.S. CROP-HAIL LOSS RATIO BY STATEAll Crops • All Losses • All Policies

28 THIRDQUARTER2020

Top 20 States

from NCIS members

Top 20 States

from MPCI

Data Source: NCIS 6-B Adjusted Verified Totals as of 07/14/2020.© National Crop Insurance Services 07/2020.

Nebraska 235,342,613 235,336,681 100.00Iowa 105,175,364 56,440,309 53.66North Dakota 96,443,583 127,584,866 132.29Minnesota 88,766,750 133,928,257 150.88Illinois 81,644,890 46,337,694 56.76Kansas 65,833,246 77,943,017 118.39Texas 64,364,613 72,936,030 113.32Montana 49,000,547 51,920,784 105.96South Dakota 41,346,711 43,913,264 106.21Indiana 23,231,841 13,172,554 56.70Arkansas 21,709,376 22,146,841 102.02Missouri 21,049,256 14,936,055 70.96Colorado 16,853,468 24,244,431 143.85Washington 16,700,040 6,267,352 37.53Wisconsin 14,019,827 6,416,141 45.76Oklahoma 12,507,802 10,007,288 80.01Idaho 12,441,286 9,921,550 79.75Ohio 7,602,527 3,583,591 47.14North Carolina 5,241,338 5,620,686 107.24Kentucky 4,707,721 7,695,047 163.46All State Totals 1,015,497,645 992,301,018 97.72

STATE PREMIUMS LOSSES LOSS RATIO %

Data Source: RMA Summary of Business as of 07/13/2020.Prepared by National Crop Insurance Services 07/2020.

Texas 1,033,513,686 1,192,121,568 1.15North Dakota 850,766,663 875,405,891 1.03Kansas 695,371,624 296,080,693 0.43Illinois 672,087,971 690,522,476 1.03South Dakota 656,467,050 1,095,754,649 1.67Iowa 634,836,789 278,606,445 0.44Minnesota 585,369,131 805,766,765 1.38Nebraska 532,996,674 249,015,052 0.47California 434,004,547 363,119,025 0.84Missouri 407,000,604 463,667,623 1.14Indiana 360,486,312 441,056,967 1.22Ohio 244,045,183 519,264,401 2.13Wisconsin 222,011,973 243,122,734 1.10North Carolina 195,920,079 248,088,551 1.27Colorado 181,115,439 97,442,531 0.54Oklahoma 180,529,774 124,341,991 0.69Washington 180,101,662 124,450,436 0.69Georgia 169,903,873 185,804,803 1.09Montana 165,596,538 115,985,603 0.70Michican 164,695,748 302,923,678 1.84All State Totals 10,129,850,140 10,250,890,871 1.01

STATE PREMIUMS LOSSES LOSS RATIO %


TRUST THE CLAIM EXPERTS AT RAIN AND HAIL

This institution is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Visit us at www.RainHail.com.

These are unprecedented times we live in. We want to make sure every policyholder has a speedy claim process that fits their comfort level. You can use our Mapping program to show adjusters were the damage is, eliminating the need for policyholders to show them in person. Once the claim is complete, the policyholder’s signature can be captured remotely, finishing the claim entirely online.

Scale tickets can even be submitted electronically through our partnership with Bushel, a mobile platform that works with grain elevators to provide growers free access to their production information through a mobile application. You connect your policyholder to their Bushel account on Agent Services, and their scale tickets are uploaded to Rain and Hail hourly, speeding up claims.

At the end of the day, we know what matters most to your customers. Having to file a claim can be a difficult time, but with over 1,000 knowledgeable adjusters across the country, our regionalized claim professionals are always ready to make the claim process as smooth as possible.

In person or remote, we are ready to serve you and your policyholders and get you both back in business.



todayVisitWebsite

ag-risk.org

Michael “Mike” R. McLeod, who spent 30 years representing the crop insurance industry through the American Association of Crop In-surers (AACI), died July 20 in Asheville, N.C. He was 78.

After graduating from American University Law School, Mike joined the Agriculture Com-mittee staff in the early 1970s, helping write the Rural Development Act of 1972. On the full com-mittee staff, he was instrumental in enactment of the Farm Credit Act of 1971, the 1973 Farm Bill, grain inspection reform legislation creating US-DA’s Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS), and the Commodity Futures Trading Commis-sion Act of 1974, which created the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Mike joined the law firm of Davis and Mc-Leod in early 1978 and later established his own law firm of McLeod Watkinson and Miller. He worked as a lawyer-lobbyist where he represent-ed such clients as the Chicago Board of Trade for more than 20 years, AACI, and the United Egg Producers. Mike worked closely with members of Congress on farm legislation and other agri-cultural interests. He was often asked to speak to various farm groups and was widely considered a leader in his field.

In the early 1980s, Mike engaged with sever-al crop insurance companies to lobby Congress to gain their support for federal crop insurance. This was the beginning of AACI. Mike was in-strumental in the development and structure of the organization and was the leader of the fight in Washington D.C. for crop insurance support. He was well known to members of the House and Senate due to his previous work on specific agri-culture legislation.

“His extensive knowledge of the intricacies of legislation and political allies made him an in-valuable leader to partner with as we moved for-ward on the implementation of crop insurance legislation,” said Rick Gibson, former Chairman of AACI and NCIS. “He had the uncanny abili-ty to identify leaders in Congress who would be

strong supporters of crop insurance.”“Mike’s early contributions and leadership led

to the ultimate expansion of the crop insurance industry and have resulted in the success that the industry enjoys today,” said Tom Zacharias, Pres-ident, National Crop Insurance Services.

Gibson remembers his first meeting with Mike and others in D.C. to call on Jamie Whit-ten, then chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.

“I remember Mike’s instructions very vividly; if he wanted a comment from you, he would let you know. Make it brief and concise!”

In 1995, Mike and his wife, Sandy, purchased a small tract of land in South Asheville and began to develop a small vacation rental resort. They poured their hearts into making their dreams come true and, after purchasing two additional tracts, were able to build 25 vacation rental cab-ins. Mike retired in 2017, moved to Asheville and enjoyed walking, his two German shepherds and spending time with his family.

Mike wrote more than five books over the years, including several he wrote together with Sandy. His most recent, “The Greatest Financial Scandals of the Last Twenty Years: From Madoff to the Cover up of the OptionSellers/INT FC-Stone Scandal,” was written based on his expe-rience in commodity legislation and as a private investor.

Other books he wrote include: “Luxury Va-cation Rentals for Life: Vacation Rentals by the Numbers;” “Blue Ridge Mountain Gardening: Four Principles You Must Know for Gardening in the Southern Appalachian Mountains;” “The Death of Civility and Common Sense: How America Has Become Dangerously Polarized,” and, “Flat Belly for Life: A Holistic Guide to Living a Healthy, Purpose Driven Life into Your 100’s.”

Mike is survived by his loving wife, Sandy Hendrix McLeod; one son, Michael Christopher McLeod; one grandson, Colt Michael McLeod and one brother, Jerry McLeod.

In Memory of Michael R. McLeod

32 THIRDQUARTER2020

Continued from page 1

what I do to this little girl. But I responded with “ ...we help farmers grow the food we eat.”

At the end of the day when we agonize over the nuances in our “message,” our story and task is quite simple and vital, “we help farmers grow the food we eat.” In the world we find ourselves in today, our role is essential and fundamental to ag-riculture and the farmers and ranchers we serve.

Our message speaks for itself. If you have spent any time on the Crop Insurance in America web-site, or any of our social media channels, you have likely heard farmers across the country talk about the importance of crop insurance. First generation farmer Dustin Johnson from Andover, Iowa, said, “I started farming from scratch. Crop insurance gives us a little bit of a safety net, so we know we’re going to be able to farm again next year.” And Brennan Gilkison from Winchester, Ky., summed it up best when he said, “I buy crop insurance be-cause I’m ensuring we’ll have a tomorrow.”

Our message remains the same. One only needs to look back a few years to see how crop insurance has provided relief to farmers. The 2011 drought in the Southern Plains and the 2012 drought in the Midwest were devastating. Fast forward to 2019 where crop losses due to flooding and prevented planting were equally devastating. And then 2020 started with the COVID-19 pan-

demic and has been followed by hurricanes, trop-ical depressions, and a once-in-a-lifetime derecho that destroyed cropland, farms, business, and homes across Iowa and Illinois. The industry re-mains committed to working with the Risk Man-agement Agency and all of USDA to ensure that farmers are protected during these difficult times.

Crop insurance is the centerpiece of U.S. farm policy, and it is there when farmers need help the most. Private-sector delivery speeds assistance in days, not years, after disaster strikes. Because it’s contractually based, crop insurance takes the politics out of disaster assistance.

And taxpayers aren’t left footing all of the bill because farmers help fund the system by paying for protection and shouldering part of the loss through deductibles.

As we stated earlier, there are many things go-ing on in the world that affects agriculture policy and our lives, yet in our own world of crop insur-ance, our mission and message remains the same.

So how do we get the message across? As the song goes, we start with the nails, the horseshoes, the horses and riders. Everything and everybody must work together. “For the want of a nail…the message was lost…the battle was lost.” It is our responsibility to “ride” together as an industry and with our partners at the Risk Management Agency to ensure the message is not lost.

In This IssueIn July, NCIS hosted its first ever virtual train-

the-trainer conference. While we would have preferred to hold a formal face-to-face event, the training went well and those who attended were complimentary of the process. You can read more about the preparations behind the confer-ence and the material presented in the article be-ginning on page 5.

The 2019 NCIS agronomic research results are also in this issue, along with an article on a new pest that soybean growers will need to figure out how to control —the Soybean Gall Midge.

Our NCIS summer intern, Aly Milliken, and Dr. James Houx have prepared an article on cover crops and how farmers are using them to prevent soil erosion and control weeds. The article also highlights the importance of following the Cover Crop Guidelines for crop insurance purposes.

We also highlight the life of Mike McLeod, who passed away in early July. Mike was a fixture in the industry for 30 years as he represented the American Association of Crop Insurers. He was an early pioneer for crop insurance and a strong supporter throughout his career. He will be missed.

We wish you all the best and hope that you and your families stay safe and healthy as we continue through the rest of 2020.

Available Now: Grower DashboardA new platform for the Great American GrowerThis one-stop-shop enables our valued growers to:

• Log in easily, just using a cell phone number• View key contact information, making it easier to reach: ▪ Their Agent ▪ Technology support ▪ Billing & Claims• See all policies from the past two years• View local weather information• Review futures prices• Stay updated with the latest DTN news articles• View policy documents

• Access important links: ▪ Online bill payment ▪ Direct deposits ▪ 1099 detail report ▪ Electronic provisions• Stay updated with the latest claim information• View and navigate through interactive maps of their farm• See detailed information about their crops, options, units, acres and fields

Growers can create their own account by visiting our website, GreatAmericanCrop.com, and clicking “Set up a new account.”

For more information, reach out to your Great American representative.

Online portal may not be available at all times. Coverage not available in all states. Great American is an equal opportunity provider. Policies are underwritten by Great American Insurance Company and Great American Alliance Insurance Company, authorized insurers in all 50 states and the DC. © 2020 Great American Insurance Company, 301 E. Fourth Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202. All rights reserved. 5568-CRP (08/20)

Crop Division

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