Crop Insurance Today February 2018 - 18

of your innovative use of technology, solid
impacts, and evaluation process."

Award of Professional Excellence
The Extension Section of the Agricultural and
Applied Economics Association (AAEA) presented Laurence Crane with the "Award of Professional Excellence" for his service as a member of
the Extension Section Executive Board. Laurence
has been an AAEA member since 1988, served
as secretary to the Extension Section Executive
Board from 2005-2008, and in 2014 was elected
by the Section membership to serve a three-year
term on the Board as an At-Large Director. He
is a vocal advocate for the private crop insurance
industry and is respected for his perspective on
applied risk management education and work
with limited-resource and socially disadvantaged
farmers and educators.

Managing Catastrophic Risk in
Agriculture
Harun Bulut published a peer-reviewed journal article in the Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics (JARE). The JARE is the official
publication of the Western Agricultural Economics Association. The article, entitled "Managing Catastrophic Risk in Agriculture through
Ex Ante Subsidized Insurance or Ex Post Disaster Aid," can be found on the journal's website at
http://bit.ly/2Aku3gt.

U.S. Farmers Insurance Choices
"U.S. Farmers' Insurance Choices under Budget Heuristics," another peer-reviewed journal
written by Harun Bulut was published in Agricultural Finance Review in December. Agricultural
Finance Review provides a rigorous forum for the
publication of theory and empirical work related
solely to issues in agricultural and agribusiness
finance. The article can be found at http://bit.
ly/2mcZfof.

Adjuster Continuing Education

NCIS schools and field days are an integral
part of loss adjuster education, and they complement the training conducted by individual crop
insurance companies. A full update on the 2017
NCIS schools and field days can be found in the
November issue of Crop Insurance TODAY®, but
here are a few important facts from those events:
* There were 17 schools/field days held in
15 states;
* 1,229 adjusters attended one or more of
the schools;
18

FEBRUARY2018

RMA organized Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) Informational Meetings for participants in
the East and Northeast. Invited attendees included agents, RMA Risk Management Partners, and
AIP representatives.

* There were 170 plot leaders who led training
through hands-on field exercises;
* 53 continuing education credit hours were
approved in Texas, Wyoming and Oklahoma,
and 158 adjusters received those hours;
* Adjusters studied 22 Crop-Hail and MPCI
crop policies and loss procedures at the
schools, including: pecan tree, sugarcane,
chickpea, forage, oats, mint, blueberry, and
many others.

Additional Activities

The items above are just a snapshot of some of
the activities NCIS staff participates in on behalf
of the industry. The days are full of day-to-day
tasks like answering member company questions, analyzing policy changes, reviewing research data, and a plethora of other "to dos" that
arise every day. A few additional activities include:
* RMA released or revised more than 15 Loss
Adjustment Standards Handbooks - most
changes were rudimentary, primarily to
conform with RMA's new handbook formatting requirements, but still required staff
time to review and comment. Some of the
handbooks included Florida Fruit Tree, Machine-Harvested Pickling Cucumber, ARH
Strawberry, Cabbage, Olives, and others.
* RMA released or revised 20 Insurance Standards Handbooks, including Margin Protection, Malting Barley, and Pistachio Pilot. The
most significant was the 2018 Whole-Farm
Revenue Policy and handbook that were revised for the third year in a row.
* There were 10 new or revised policies that
needed review and comment, including Hybrid Sweet Corn Seed and APH Sesame. The
most significant policy change for the 2018
crop year was a Replant and Double Cropping CCIP Basic Provisions Amendment
published in June and the CCIP and ARPI

Basic Provisions and CAT Endorsement
that were updated in late November. These
changes resulted in subsequent updates to
the General Standards, Crop Insurance,
and Document and Supplement Standards
Handbooks, which had been updated earlier
in the year. The Crop Insurance Handbook
was actually updated a total of three times in
2017 for the 2018 crop year.
* Cultivated Clams Pilot and California Avocado Pilot programs were converted to permanent status.
* Each month, NCIS releases "Asked & Answered," a compilation of the questions asked
by NCIS member companies of staff that
month, and the answers provided. In 2017,
there was a total of 204 questions "asked &
answered," averaging 17 per month.
* Staff prepared 36 agent and adjuster competency exams for member companies.
* There were 12 opinion-editorial pieces
placed in 10 states throughout the U.S. including the Kansas City Star, Des Moines
Register, High Plains Journal, and the Omaha
World-Herald.
* NCIS conducted 25 agronomic research projects in conjunction with land-grant universities in the U.S. and one in Canada. Crops included: chile peppers, milo, popcorn, cotton,
potatoes, chickpeas, and others.
NCIS staff provided many other daily services to our membership including IT and processing support, state insurance department
form filings, membership support, Final Average Loss Calculation (FALC) analysis, and others. We are proud of what we do to serve our
membership and the entire industry. And we
remain committed to providing excellent service throughout 2018. We appreciate the support of our members and thank you for your
commitment to our organization.

http://www.bit.ly/2Aku3gt http://bit.ly/2mcZfof http://bit.ly/2mcZfof

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