Magnolia State News
Senators urge USDA to reinstate insurance options for disaster-affected farmers
By Magnolia State News
U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, along with other members of the Senate Agriculture Committee, has called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to restore additional crop insurance coverage for farmers unable to plant crops due to disasters such as flooding.
The request was made in a bipartisan letter addressed to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. The letter challenges a recent rule from the USDA Federal Crop Insurance Corporation that removes the option for “buy up” coverage on prevented planting acres.
“Eliminating the option for producers to purchase additional buy-up coverage for prevented planting is troubling, especially at a time when our farmers need access to all risk management tools available to them,” wrote the Senators, led by Agriculture Committee Chair John Boozman and Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar.
“As we work closely with USDA to get producers through this challenging time, we respectfully ask that USDA reverse this decision and allow producers access to the additional prevented plant coverage for 2027 and beyond to help provide a layer of certainty when disasters beyond their control render them unable to plant a crop,” they continued.
Prevented planting is included in all crop insurance policies as basic coverage. The “buy-up” option allows increased protection above this level. According to the letter, removing this option could impact more than 67 million acres across all 50 states and affect all covered commodities in 2025.
Senator Hyde-Smith represents Mississippi as its first female elected senator and serves on several committees including Appropriations and Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, according to her official website. Her office addresses priorities such as agriculture, rural development, public safety, education, health care, veterans support and national security throughout Mississippi.
Other signatories of the letter include Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), Senators John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Jim Justice (R-W.Va.), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.).