MINNEAPOLIS – As precipitation increased in recent years across the Midwest, so did crop insurance costs for wetter weather linked to the rapidly accelerating climate catastrophe, finds a new Environmental Working Group analysis of federal data.
Between 2001 and 2020, almost nine out of 10 Midwestern counties – 646 out of 738 counties in eight states – experienced upward trends in both precipitation levels and federal Crop Insurance Program indemnity payments for “excess moisture.” Indemnities are paid to farmers for losses to crop yield or revenue, and taxpayers provide a portion of these funds. The program is managed by the Agriculture Department.
“In the overwhelming majority of the Midwest, we’re seeing wetter weather linked to the climate crisis – and it’s happening in the same places where crop insurance costs are surging,” said Anne Schechinger, EWG Midwest director, agricultural economist and author of the analysis. “The trend is clear, alarming and extremely expensive.”
Excess moisture also drove up the costs of other program components by hiking premium subsidies, the number of policies and the number of acres that received a payment.
EWG used data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, to determine that 683 Midwestern counties in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin saw more annual precipitation between 2001 and 2020.
Of those counties, 661 also had a crop insurance indemnity payment for excess moisture in at least one year, which EWG ascertained from information gathered through Freedom of Information Requests to the USDA and compiled in EWG’s online Crop Insurance Database.
In these 661 counties, the Crop Insurance Program paid out $12.9 billion for excess moisture claims – fully one-third of all indemnities in those counties. Across all 738 Midwest counties, excess moisture indemnity payments totaled nearly $14.5 billion.
In a report released early this year, EWG showed that the climate crisis has already caused the price tag of the Crop Insurance Program in parts of the Midwest to soar. The region is expected to see even more precipitation in the future due to the climate catastrophe, with significant negative consequences for agriculture there.
Yet the federal Crop Insurance Program discourages climate adaptation – as EWG explained in another report released in May. For example, it shields farmers from the true cost of policies and minimizes the risk to the farmer of planting on environmentally sensitive lands.
“If current trends continue, this program will only keep getting more expensive, which will fall on the shoulders of both taxpayers and farmers,” Schechinger said. “Congress must make changes in the Farm Bill to the Crop Insurance Program to encourage farmers to alter how they farm, alleviating the worst effects of the climate crisis on agriculture.”
Conservation practices like cover crops can help farmers adapt to extreme weather like more frequent heavy precipitation events.
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The Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Through research, advocacy and unique education tools, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action. Visit www.ewg.org for more information.
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