What are the major causes of crop losses in the United States?
A. No perfect measure of crop losses exists, but USDA’s Risk Management Agency does have data on the sources of losses for claims filed under Federal crop insurance. Since 1988, about 40 percent of crop insurance indemnities have been due to drought; about 30 percent to excessive moisture, rain, or floods; and about 10 percent to frost, freeze, and cold weather; and about 10 percent to hail. Note that uninsured crops might have somewhat different causes of loss. Also, causes of yield loss will vary by year, by crop, and by region. Q. What are the main government programs that address farm risk management? A. The main government programs related to farm risk management are: • crop yield insurance and crop revenue insurance; • supplemental agricultural disaster assistance (SADA) programs; • loan deficiency payments, which protect producers of major commodities against low prices; • counter-cyclical payments (CCPs), which are based on current prices and historical production; • average cr
