The very words “crop insurance” are enough to make most people’s eyes glaze over. But crop insurance is the foundation of America’s agricultural safety net. A new federal program, called Whole Farm Revenue Protection, offers coverage to producers like Nuessmeier. That’s important for farmers because it levels the playing field for smaller and diversified farmers. But it’s also a big win for eaters because it provides an incentive for farmers to grow healthy and sustainable food. “Long term, we hope this creates a pathway to make all of American agriculture more sustainable,” said Ferd Hoefner, policy director for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
For my latest column for the Stone Barns Center, I examine how and why something so boring could be so transformational. Whole Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) policies do the opposite of traditional commodity crop policies. They offer insurance for everything grown on the farm. This gives diversified farmers the opportunity to insure all their crops, whether that’s a few dozen kinds of vegetables or mixed grain and livestock farms. That’s good news for small and diversified farms as well as organic producers who grow crops for which a policy isn’t available.
