12/29/05 Look for rule on crop insurance for wheat

Farm and Ranch December 29, 2005 Look for a proposed rule in January from USDA's Risk Management Agency regarding combining and simplifying crop insurance coverages on wheat and barley. Dave Paul of the regional RMA office in Spokane, says the proposed rule will probably be the most significant change in insuring wheat and barley in the agency's history. Paul: "We are looking forward to spending a lot of time with the wheat and barley growing industries to make sure that the proposed rule and what ends up being published as a final rule meets the needs of Pacific Northwest growers. It is going to combine a lot of the products we have out there now. Make the program much more simpler. But it is going to encompass the good of all the other programs out there and make real equitable coverage for producers. We are excited about it but we have to do it right. It is going to be really important to get the feed back from northwest growers as we design that." Looking back over 200 Paul says it was an interesting year. In March he was projecting the worst year in history given the dry conditions. Then things turned around. Paul: "And winter crops were very good for the most part. There were some isolated areas where we had losses on winter crop. Spring crops on the other hand, particularly spring wheat and barley, didn't do as well in a large portion of our area." With yields down there were some losses in spring wheat and barley and also in peas and lentils. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.