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program, saying it was an important risk management option for farmers.
Wayne Ashworth, president of the Virginia Farm Bureau, said his group has long supported the idea of federal crop insurance. “Phasing out disaster assistance and phasing in crop insurance has been the position of both the Virginia and the American Farm Bureau Federations,” Mr. Ashworth said. “I’m surprised Bush proposed this.”
The lack of crop insurance participation by farmers, say Downes and others, comes from the fact that farmers figure they’ll receive the special disaster assistance if nature deals an ugly blow to their area.
“Farmers think why should they spend their own money on crop insurance when the government’s going to pay for it in disaster relief assistance,” Mr. Downes said. “It’s been a frustrating pattern.”
In 1988, 23 percent of Virginia farmers participated in the crop insurance program, Mr. Pease said. Nationally, about half of all agricultural producers signed up for the
96.8%