Crop Insurance Today February 2018 - 10

meeting held in Santa Barbara, Calif. The WRIA
is primarily interested in the application of statistics to business decisions, but also provides a
means of sharing new ideas and approaches on
issues relating to risk and insurance among academics, economists, actuaries, risk management
professionals, and financial professionals. Frank's
presentation reexamined the concept of systematic risk underlying the well-known Capital Asset
Pricing Model by applying the same approach to
the pricing of insurance.

Crop Insurance Conference 2017

Laurence Crane (right) received the Outstanding Research Award from the Southern Extension
Risk Management Education Center.

control reviews as well as areas where efficiencies could be gained in the quality control
review processes.

Participation in Professional
Societies and Other
Conferences

NCIS staff regularly participate in various

professional organizations and meetings to exchange information with other agricultural economists and academia about the importance of
crop insurance.

Western Risk and Insurance
Association Meeting
Frank Schnapp participated in the Western
Risk and Insurance Association (WRIA) annual

The 24th Annual Crop Insurance Conference
was held in Fargo, N.D., January 16. This conference is sponsored by the North Dakota State University Extension Service and the Department of
Agribusiness and Applied Economics. It is attended by crop insurance agents, underwriters,
commodity group representatives, legislators,
and farmers. Tom Zacharias presented a crop insurance industry outlook.

Southern Agricultural Economics
Association
NCIS participated in the Southern Agricultural Economics Association (SAEA) Annual
Meeting, February 4-7 in Mobile, Ala. The meeting is a forum where agricultural economists in
the southern states and Caribbean discuss their
research, teaching and outreach programs. Laurence Crane made a presentation highlighting
the results of a grant-funded project where he
conducted a series of workshops in Mississippi in
cooperation with Alcorn State University, providing marketing planning education to limited-resource and socially disadvantaged farmers. This
was one of three projects funded by the Southern
Risk Management Education Center (SRMEC),
operated by the University of Arkansas, that
were selected for the conference. Each year the
SRMEC recognizes the top three projects who
the advisory council deems to have been most
successful in delivering effective programs.

USDA Ag Outlook Meeting

Adjusters examine canola plants at the school in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

FEBRUARY2018

The USDA held its 93rd Agricultural Outlook Forum in Washington, D.C., February 2324 with the theme, "A New Horizon: The Future
of Agriculture." Tom Zacharias, Laurence Crane,
and Harun Bulut attended the event. The forum
featured keynote speaker, Rep. Mike Conaway,
U.S. House Agriculture Committee Chairman.
Remarks and presentations were made by Iowa
Governor Terry Branstad; Dr. Robert Johansson,

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crop Insurance Today February 2018