Sunday, January 18, 2015

National Webinar on New Whole Farm Revenue Protection Policy


There's a new crop insurance option now available for diversified farmers - Whole Farm Revenue Insurance - and an upcoming webinar will help farmers understand whether it's right for them.

The National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT), the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) and the Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI-USA) are holding a webinar on January 21, 2015, at 2:00 pm Central time to discuss the Risk Management Agency's new Whole Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) insurance policy.

The webinar will feature presentations from all three organizations on what WFRP is, how it works, and which farmers it may work for.  The presenters will also take question about the policy.

Paul Wolfe, Policy specialist with NSAC, will talk about the history of whole farm insurance and the differences between WFRP and the AGR and AGR-Lite.

Jeff Schahczenski, Agriculture Policy and Funding Research Director with NCAT, will talk about the WFRP application process and cover examples of how Mid-Western farms could use WFRP.

James Robinson, a Research and Policy Associate with RAFI-USA, will talk about the claims process and the potential benefits of WFRP for specialty crop growers.

This new WFRP policy replaces the AGR and AGR-Lite policies, which provided much less coverage than the new WFRP, and is meant to cover all of a farmer’s crop and livestock insurance needs under one policy.

The new product will be available for the coming crop year in most of the United States except for the sates of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and some counties in California.

Join us on Wednesday, January 21st, 2014, from 2:00 – 3:30 pm CST.  Presentations will last until approximately 3:15 pm, with the remaining time for Q&A.  Registration is free and open to the public here:  Webinar Registration  More information on WFRP can be found on RMA’s WFRP website and from NSAC.

About the Webinar Speakers:

James Robinson, Research and Policy Associate, RAFI. James’ risk management research was presented at the Agriculture and Applied Economics Crop Insurance & Farm Bill Symposium in both 2013 and 2014. James currently serves as co-chair of NSAC’s Farming Opportunities and Fair Competition Committee. Prior to working at RAFI, James was a Graduate Intern for the Florida Senate Committee on Agriculture and a Research Assistant for the Fiscal Research Division of the North Carolina General Assembly. James holds a BA in Political Science from LaGrange College and a MS in Political Science from Florida State University.

Paul Wolfe, Policy Specialist with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) has worked on sustainability and food issues in the United States Senate for over 8 years. He holds a J.D. from the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law and a B.A. in Political Science from Gonzaga University. Paul has spent the last six years working for Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA).  Prior to that he was the Senior Policy Analyst for the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, where he contributed to the Commission’s final report and led its Congressional education efforts.  He previously worked for Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD).

Jeff Schahczenski, Agriculture Policy and Funding Research Director and an Agricultural Economist with the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT). Jeff has extensive knowledge of whole farm revenue, organic, and specialty crop insurance and has provided more than 20 workshops and webinars nationwide on crop insurance topics. Jeff in an early Risk Management Agency (RMA) supported project developed the Adjusted Gross Revenue Wizard, which assisted farmers in evaluating what is now, in part, the basis of the Whole Farm Revenue Protection product discussed in this webinar. Jeff has over 28 years of experience in sustainable agriculture development and farming. He holds an MS in Agricultural Economics from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a MS in Political Science from the University of Florida.

Contact: Paul Wolfe, 202-547-5754, Jeff Schahczenski, 406-494-4572, James Robinson, 919-542-1396.


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