[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 19 (Thursday, February 13, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E277-E278]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               THE CROP INSURANCE IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 1997

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. EARL POMEROY

                            of north dakota

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 13, 1997

  Mr. POMEROY. Mr. Speaker I rise today to introduce a desperately 
needed piece of legislation, the Crop Insurance Improvement Act. This 
bill will restore fairness to the crop insurance system and make crop 
insurance a reasonable risk management tool for producers in North 
Dakota.
  In my State farmers have suffered through three successive seasons of 
disastrous crop production and the fourth is already on its way. 
Abnormally high rainfall and wet conditions have prevented farmers from 
planting crops and have ruined crops that were planted. Through no 
fault of their own, these farmers have seen their crops destroyed and 
livelihood threatened year after year.
  Now producers are being told that they will have to pay higher 
premiums for lower coverage as a result of these losses. Many producers 
are now faced with unaffordable insurance bills that provide little 
coverage. Nothing could be more unfair to the farmers of my State or 
any farmers who have suffered crop losses due to natural disasters.
  Last year 172 producers in North Dakota were placed on the 
nonstandard classification list following 3 years of successive losses. 
Nonstandard classification results in higher premiums and lower 
coverage. This year, hundreds more producers face a similar situation 
because of the continued disaster. Even if the flooding and wet 
conditions were to stop today, many farmers would not be able to afford 
the crop insurance they need because of losses in previous disaster 
years.
  My bill would ease this situation and restore some fairness and 
sanity to the crop insurance program. The Crop Insurance Improvement 
Act would provide exceptions for producers farming in areas declared a 
disaster by the President or the Secretary of Agriculture. It would 
prevent the listing of producers on the nonstandard classification list 
if they had losses related to a major declared disaster.
  This bill would also prevent FCIC from counting losses in disaster 
years in the calculation of insurable yields. Poor yields in

[[Page E278]]

years of natural disaster should not affect a producer's future 
insurance. Disasters represent abnormal, uncontrollable forces of 
nature and should not cripple a farmer for years to come with higher 
insurance premiums and inadequate coverage.
  The ultimate goal of the bill is to keep crop insurance as a viable 
risk management tool for our Nation's farmers. If producers cannot 
afford crop insurance, or if the insurance will not cover a reasonable 
yield, then we have left them without a safety net.
  Participation in crop insurance has increased since Congress reformed 
the program in 1994. Farmers have taken more responsibility for their 
risk management and will have to take even more now that the price 
safety net has been removed by the 1996 farm bill. Now it is time to 
improve the program so that we are not slamming the door on a valuable 
tool responsible producers use to manage their risk. I encourage my 
colleagues to support this necessary and commonsense improvement in the 
crop insurance program.

                          ____________________