The deadline for spring crop insurance signup for most of the Grain Belt is Monday, March 15. If you're still undecided, it's not too late to hear the rebroadcast of what three experts advised during DTN's "Crop Insurance Decisions 2010" webinar this week. Our panel included Risk Management Agency Deputy Administrator Tim Witt, University of Illinois Gary Schnitkey and Illinois crop insurance agent and grain farmer Steve Pigg.

Three-fourths of all crop insurance purchased last year was some kind of farm level revenue plan--like RA or CRC. Given today's price risks, you can't go wrong with any revenue product with a harvest price option, including the county-based GRIP policies, said Schnitkey. Just keep in mind that individual and county-based policies pay under different circumstances, though.

GRIP coverage doesn't fit all situations, but if you are most concerned about the "price" insurance instead of yield coverage, GRIP offers far superior price protection, he added. The 2008 crop year was a model for GRIP, with payments of $400 per acre in some corn counties. Assuming an average yield, it takes only about a 40 cent decline in price from today's $3.99 corn guarantee to trigger GRIP payments (at the 90 percent level). An 85 percent CRC policy needs a 60 cent decline.

Yield lags in establishing a 10-year average production history also pushes more people into GRIP, Schnitkey added. That's been exacerbated by corn's above-average yield gains since the advent of biotech hybrids. If your corn APH runs 15 bu. or more below your expected yields, a 90 percent GRIP policy may be a reasonable alternative in the Corn Belt, especially if you can get a policy for about $40 an acre, Schnitkey said. (The downside: No prevented planted coverage or isolated protection such as greensnap or hail).

CRC and RA coverage with harvest-price options have been the most popular programs in recent years due to enhanced premium subsidies for enterprise units. Because CRC and RA policies qualify for those big discounts, many growers boosted their coverage levels another 5 percent last year and still saved money, Witt said.

With enterprise units, the government is asking you to assume more risk on yield claims, but in exchange buyups will help you enhance income protection.

For example, to insure 170 bu. APH corn in Christian County, Ill., you'd spend $15 per acre for a CRC-HP policy with optional units at the 75 percent level. If you switched to enterprise units and 80 percent coverage--which lumps all your corn acres in the county together--you'd pay only $11 per acre. That's the definition of getting more for less.

To view the webinar taped March 11, go to http://about.dtnpf.com/…

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