“To any reasonable person,” said Tom Zacharias, president of National Crop Insurance Services, “that constitutes ‘paying their fair share.’”

Zaharias wrote about the issue in a May 3 editorial for Roll Call, saying intelligent, factual conversations about the future of agriculture is important for the American public as well as lawmakers.

The numbers are important to get out, he wrote, because of the ongoing assault on farmers over the purchasing of crop insurance.

He said indemnities to farmers cost about $17 billion, but that indemnities were not solely borne by taxpayers because “farmers and insurers picked up a major portion of the costs and sustained significant economic losses. … When crop insurances premiums exceeded losses, the government sees underwriting gains that help offset payments in bad years.”

The government, he wrote, experienced around $4 billion in gains from 2001-2010.

“This is the sixth time since 1983 that crop insurers lost money,” he continued. “Compare that to the property and casualty insurance industry, which has lost money only once as far back as data is available.”  FG

—From Roll Call