November 10, 2017
Last week, the Risk Management Agency (RMA) announced projects funded through two programs that help educate farmers about how to mitigate production, financial, and other forms of risk on their farms. These grants were awarded through the Risk Management Education Partnership Program and the Risk Management Program in Targeted States.
Farm risk can take many forms. Traditionally, most people think of natural disaster risks (such as weather) which the federal crop insurance program directly addresses. However, there are many other kinds of risk involved in farming, including financial, human capital, production, and market risks, that can determine if a farm makes it from one year to the next. These two programs help give farmers the tools they need to mitigate these kinds of risks, while also educating farmers about the limitations of the risks covered by current federal crop insurance programs.
Additionally, with the introduction of Whole Farm Revenue Protection in 2015, which allows a farm to cover all of its crops and livestock under one crop insurance policy, a much wider variety of farms have real access to crop insurance policies that adequately address the needs of diverse production systems. These two programs are key to informing farmers about this new policy, which is the only policy currently available in every state and county in the country.
Spotlight on NSAC Members
This year, 76 separate partnership agreements were awarded through both programs, including 14 grants to National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition members. An additional 24 grants were awarded as part of the Targeted States program.
Recipients will be working with RMA to educate farmers on a variety of risk mitigation topics, including the following NSAC member-led projects:
Program Basics
The Risk Management Education Partnerships Program is a competitive cooperative partnership agreement program that funds crop insurance education and risk management training. The program is managed through USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) and aims to help agricultural producers identify and manage production, marketing, legal, financial, and human risk. RMA administers the program as two separate initiatives to address both underserved states and individual producers or commodities.
Risk Management Education Partnerships Program: The Education Partnership Program prioritizes educating (1) producers of crops currently uninsured under federal crop insurance, such as many specialty crops, and (2) underserved commodities, including livestock and forage. It also prioritizes collaborative outreach and assistance programs for limited resource, socially disadvantaged, new and beginning, and other traditionally underserved farmers and ranchers. The program’s educational goals encompass production, legal, financial, and human risk involved in farming.
Risk Management Education in Targeted States Program: The Targeted States Program is aimed at educating producers in sixteen historically underserved states about crop insurance in order to increase participation in those states. These targeted states include CT, DE, HI, ME, MD, MA, NV, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, UT, VT, WV, and WY. Project applications can address:
For more information on the program visit NSAC’s Grassroots Guide.
Categories: Commodity, Crop Insurance & Credit Programs, Grants and Programs, Research, Education & Extension