Farmers who grow fresh fruits and vegetables often find crop insurance prohibitively expensive or even unavailable as climate change increases the likelihood of droughts and floods that could reduce yields.
Their plight has left some small farmers questioning their future on the land.
Efforts to increase the availability and affordability of crop insurance are being considered by Congress as part of the next farm bill, but the divide between the interests of large and small farmers is causing controversy.
The threat climate change poses to farms is not hypothetical. A 2021 study conducted by Stanford University researchers found that rising temperatures accounted for 19% of $27 billion in crop insurance payouts from 1991 to 2017 and concluded that additional warming significantly increases the likelihood of future crop losses.
About 85% of U.S. commodity crops, including row crops such as corn, soybeans and wheat, are insured, according to the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, a nonprofit group that promotes environmentally sound food production.
By contrast, only half of the land devoted to specialty crops — supermarket staples like strawberries, apples, asparagus and peaches — was insured in 2022, according to federal statistics.
Among those going without insurance is Bernie Smiarowski, who grows potatoes on 700 acres and strawberries on 12 acres in western Massachusetts. His soil is considered the most fertile in the country. The trade-off is proximity to the Connecticut River, a deal that is becoming more difficult as a warming world increases the likelihood of flooding.
Mr Smiarowski lost nearly $1.25 million worth of potatoes to flooding last year when heavy rain hit the area and river water seeped into his fields. It was three years in a row of bad weather.
“We’ve had two extremely wet years sandwiched between one of the driest years I’ve ever seen,” he said. “We can’t continue another year like last year.”
Even in a normal year, his expenses are $2,000 per acre, generating a 20 percent profit to break even. Mr. Smiarowski said the cheapest plan presented to him (about $170 per acre per year) would be a significant expense, but would cover only 60 percent of the wholesale price of potatoes.
He's looking at cases for insurance, but for now he's just hoping for the best.
And professional farmers say there are few agents willing to work with them. “I only know of one place in the state that does,” said Mike Koeppl, who grows strawberries on 7 acres near Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Experts say the reason for their reluctance is financial. Agents are making more money by securing vast tracts of corn and soybeans. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average farm in the United States is 445 acres, but the average professional farm is much smaller.
And most insurance covers a single crop. This means that professional farmers who grow a variety of fruits and vegetables will need to take out multiple insurance policies.
Companies offering crop insurance emphasize that their plans should offer payouts that are roughly equal to the premiums accepted.
Kristen Ward, regional vice president of crop insurance at Farm Credit Mid-America, said her company has worked with farmers in six states to cover crops from barley to grapes, but has not been able to do so where conditions do not support specialization. Fruits and Vegetables.
The premium offered to farmers is risk-based and “valued based on where the crop is grown,” she said. “It may look different in different parts of the country.”
Products have emerged to fill this gap, including Total Farm Profit Protection, a comprehensive insurance policy for multi-crop farms.
More than 220,000 U.S. farms grow specialty crops, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation, a trade group. But only 18,659 full-farm revenue plans were sold over the proposed 10-year period, according to federal statistics.
Advocates for small, professional farmers are seeking relief in Washington.
The federal crop insurance program was born during the Great Depression, when the Dust Bowl devastated the farm belt. Under the $18 billion program, the government will pay farmers half of their crop insurance premiums to ensure a safe food supply.
Last December, Congress extended the current farm bill until 2024, but lawmakers failed to agree on a follow-up measure.
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition recently released a series of recommendations, including easing access to whole farm revenue insurance and expanding disaster relief.
“Floods, droughts and hurricanes are becoming more frequent and intense,” said Billy Hackett, a policy expert at the coalition. “That’s why it’s important to have a safety net.”
Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat, proposed farm bill language that would give professional farmers access to highly subsidized insurance policies and streamline the application process for products such as Total Farm Profit Coverage. “I will always fight to ensure specialty crops are a central part of farm policy,” Ms. Stabenow said in her statement.
An independent bill co-sponsored by New Jersey Democrat Sen. Cory Booker would provide incentives for insurance agents to work with small specialty crop farmers. The bill bases subsidies on the complexity of the insurance plan rather than the size of the premium.
But commodity farmers are wary of modifications to crop insurance programs.
Corn, soybean and wheat growers are “concerned about broad changes in how the program functions in a way that leaves everyone behind, rather than helping fill the gaps that exist in specific crops,” said American Farm Bureau. said Danny Munch, an economist at the Bureau Federation.
Some lawmakers oppose the change because of these concerns.
“For years, Iowa farmers have told me to leave crop insurance in place in the next farm bill,” Republican Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, whose state relies heavily on staple crops like corn and soybeans, said in a statement. He said. “There’s no need to fiddle with something that isn’t broken.”
These challenges have led some farmers to seek other types of support.
After Mr. Smiarowski's Massachusetts crops were destroyed last year, he and other flood-affected farmers turned to Gov. Maura Healey for help in the form of disaster relief. Mr. Smiarowski was grateful, but said his share only covered about 20% of the loss.
The support was temporary, so we had no choice but to hope for better weather in the future.
“I hope to get what I can when the economy is bad and have a better year next year,” he said.