Record year for crop insurance

Did you know that many crops are insured by the federal government? That means that if, for example, soy farmers don't get a good crop during a particular year, the government pays them insurance money to make sure that they are able to stay solvent and farm that same soy the following year.

On one hand it's a great thing; we need people who have the land and know how to farm to keep farming even if they have a few bad years. But do you know who's paying for that insurance claim? You and me. It's a taxpayer-funded insurance payout.

This year's reported "worst drought in 50 years" is looking like it will cost somewhere around $16 billion for taxpayers. $16 billion!

It's a lot of money, and up from the 2011 cost of $9.4 billion, and this kind of crop insurance is projected to cost the government around $94 billion over the next ten years.  

Predictably, everyone on Old MacDonald's farm is jumping up and down and screaming for cuts to this expensive program. The Environmental Working Group, committed to environmental causes, and the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, ACTUALLY AGREE that this insurance program should be cut - each for their own reasons, of course. The Treasury Secretary said it's an area we could cut, and the President mentioned looking at cutting around $4 billion.

But let's all just hold on a minute. It costs us $16 billion to weather the worst drought in 50 years? It will cost us around $9 billion a year to keep our farmers going through the next decade? I'm willing to leave that alone rather than haggle over a few billion dollars. After all, our defense budget in 2011 was $664 billion on its own.

$16 billion for food doesn't sound so expensive or frivolous anymore, does it?

Image courtesy of Parker Knight via flickr