What are the most common policies and coverage amounts in the Northern Plains?
Olson: We serve southeastern North Dakota and west central Minnesota. In our area, nearly all wheat producers choose a revenue product like RA or CRC. In 2001, most of those policies were RA instead of CRC because premiums were less. Soybean producers chose Multi-Peril (MPCI) because the price per bushel was higher, but that might not have been the right decision. If you had a total disaster, MPCI would have been better but CRC will be better than MPCI in most cases because of coverage for the change in price. Corn producers are split half and half between CRC and MPCI but more are switching to CRC. For the past few years, corn prices have dropped 20% from spring to fall so it doesnt take much of a crop problem to generate a claim. Before Congress increased the subsidy, most producers choose 65% coverage, but now 70% to 75% coverage is the standard because of the increased subsidized coverage. Jensen: Can we expect any changes to the prevented planting policies for 2002? Olson: No. Adj
