RMA will pursue idea if growers show strong interest

By MATTHEW WEAVER

Capital Press

Farmers who would like to insure their crop residue are encouraged to participate in an upcoming listening session.

The USDA Risk Management Agency is exploring the feasibility of offering insurance for wheat straw and other crop residue. The agency contracted with agricultural economics consulting firm Watts and Associates, based in Billings, Mont.

Crop residues aren't traditionally harvested as crops, said Randy Landgren, project director and research associate for Watts and Associates. They are plowed into soil to add organic matter or used to feed animals, either through grazing or as fodder. Such methods are not insurable.

But due to language in the 2008 Farm Bill and efforts to use crop residues like straw or stover to make ethanol, the agency is considering whether residues harvested as feedstock for ethanol could be insured.

Farmers growing oats or wheat might not consider it important to manage the risk associated with straw, Landgren said.

"If people want insurance for crop residues, it's very important we hear from them that this insurance would be a useful risk management tool," he said. "In the absence of producer interest, the government shouldn't be spending money to do the math to figure out what the insurance would be."

It's expensive to determine how something should be insured, Landgren said, which is why the government wants to gauge grower interest.

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act, the federal government is not able to ask questions that could be construed as a survey, Landgren said. During the listening sessions, his firm has a list of topics to take comments on, instead of a list of questions for producers.

"Anyone who has an opinion about the program in any way, shape or form is invited to express that opinion," he said. "Usually there's a fairly lively discussion that gets generated as a result of that."

The listening session will be at 9 a.m. Nov. 2 at the Riverfront Center Wells Springs Conference Room, located at 2 Marine Drive in Boardman, Ore.

For more information or to submit a written comment, contact Landgren at 406-252-7776 or rlandgren@wattsandassociates.com

Online

USDA Risk Management Agency: www.rma.usda.gov

Watts and Associates: www.wattsandassociates.com