Lugar announces crop revenue insurance oversight hearing U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee Chairman Dick Lugar has announced an oversight hearing on the federal crop insurance program, particularly examining the federal subsidy of a new revenue insurance program.
Crop insurance is considered an important risk management choice for farmers.
This will be the first major Congressional oversight of the program since the end of federal farm subsidies last year. The hearing will be held at 9 a.m. April 17 in Senate Russell 328-A, with Risk Management Agency Director Ken Ackerman and a General Accounting Office representative as witnesses. The committee held four hearings in March on restructuring agricultural research. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman and U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky will testify on trade issues in the next few weeks. Earlier this year, Lugar warned USDA that he would carefully scrutinize implementation of crop revenue insurance.