Crop insurance now a top priority for many hard hit Michigan farmers

Many Michigan farmers are spending this May focusing on their insurance needs.

The sporadic spring freezes and frosts that followed the unusually mild winter devastated Michigan’s apple, cherry and peach crops.     Most farmers have access to some form of crop insurance.   But according to the Michigan Farm Bureau, the insurance only covers about 60 to 70 percent of the loss.

“There’s a very high premium cost to purchase crop insurance for those commodities,”  says Ryan Findley is the national legislative counsel for the Michigan Farm Bureau,   “And the indemnification they would receive in a year like this will not be adequate to help them cover their cost.”

Findley says there are proposals in the current draft of the Federal Farm Bill that address some of these problems.    But those changes would not be effective for another three to five years.