PASTURE INSURANCE

I got an “Open Immediately” hand addressed letter today from American Crop Insurance asking me to join 600 other farmers who have signed up for this USDA program.  Unlike most farmers, I don’t keep up with government freebies.

            This is called the Pasture, Rangeland, Forage (PRF) program and has apparently been in place for 15 years at least.  If you have a good sense of humor, some of it is really funny, like the  big bold type sentence:  “LET’S FACE IT, WHEN IT COMES TO MAKING YOUR GRASS GROW, IS THERE ANYTHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN WATER?”

            I can think of other things more important than water, like controlling the grazing, putting on compost, but let’s take this sentence at face value and play along.  You’d think if water were the most important thing, this USDA program would help get more water.

            Oh, it just pays if your rainfall is below normal, because we all know a farmer can’t do anything to help his water situation.  Except I’m sitting here at the desk while we’re dumping about 2 inches of rain a day on 4 acres a day with K-line irrigation pods from New Zealand.  This water is not coming from the river, a spring, or an aquifer.  It’s surface runoff that accumulated during the winter and during the two week wet spell we had in early July; we caught it in our ponds and are now raining it out on the pasture.

            In fact, the USDA now considers ponds a liability because wild ducks land on them and bring avian influenza.  So the best cure for rain shortage is condemned by the USDA.  This program is highly subsidized by the USDA, says the come-on letter.  Isn’t that comforting?

            According to the farmer testimonials on the back of the letter, all these farmers get way more money each year than the premiums they pay.  Isn’t it nice to get free money?

            Typical.  Here’s a program to solve a problem that refuses to pay for the only real solution to the problem, which is duplicating the beavers from pre-European times.  Nothing asks these farmers to increase organic matter to hold more water.  Nothing asks them to build ponds to store flood waters, when water is excessive.  It’s all stupid, but welcome to the USDA.

            Do you think ponds are assets or liabilities?