The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1942-02-20


|ectively.
2. doubt very much If any farmer
can tell how much wheat he has
planted and his total yield for the
past % years and for that reason his
torical crop yield figures do not go
back that far. AS | remember 1t,
original yield and premium rates were
set up on the basis of key farms Sc
lected at random from throughout
county on which the actual yield and
acreage figures for the six years 1890
35 were available. From information
available on county basis these acre
age and yield figures covering the
entire county were extended back
ward 13 or 20 years, depending on
the information available. Possibly
there is more to it than this but l
believe in general this was the pro-
cedure. Naturally the figures can't
actually be proved to be accurate but
they are the best available and each
year the current years yield and acre
age are figured into the base period,
this tending to make the figures more
accurate. These base periods are now
Is and 20 years, including the 1941
crop.
AS Mr.. Horizons second, third and
fourth questions were all tied to-
gether, they are answered in the
above paragraph.
5. If Mr. Horton means by this
question: SIS the premium rate and
crop loss always figured to balance
every 20 years ?"-does it balance by
farm, believe the answer is no. On
the other hand, if he means does it
balance by county, and assuming that
the yield and premium rates are es-
tablished correctly, and that the 23-
year base period is an entirely normal
period from all standpoints, | believe
that it will balance. Naturally all
farms in the county tend toward the
normal, although some may pay too
high premiums and have too high
yields, others may pay too low pre-
miums and have too low yields. OF
course the longer the period on which
the premiums and yields are figured,
the better chance there is that ind1-
vidual farms will eventually balance
although it is hard to set any definite
number of years when the balance
will be attained due to weather condi-
tions, farming practices and all the
other things that enter into farming
If in the illustration which started all
this argument in the January issue
of The Voice, the farmer had stopped
taking insurance after 1922 (this is on
the assumption that crop insurance
was taken for all % years of the pc
Rod shown he would have found that
he had paid in 84 bushels per acre as
premium and had taken out S.S bush
els per acre in indemnities Thus he
would have a close balance in four
years, or going further he and the
corporation would have been just 6
of bushel per acre from an average
in IS years. This I believe also an
swers question 6.
7. Under the present crop insurance
setup this question is clearly an
swered. A man does not have to pay
any premium at the time he signs for
insurance He merely signs note
guaranteeing payment of the premium
at any time previous to the maturity
of the note on Augusth 29, 1912, in
wheat or the cash equivalent. If he
pays before the date of maturity in
cash. the premium is figured on the
basis of the market price of wheat on
the day payment is made. If he pays
on the day of or after maturity, the
payment is figured on the basis of
the market price of wheat on August
30. In other words, the insurer has
his choice of paying his premium any
time between the date he takes out
an insurance contract and August 20.
He just has to pick the day when he
figures wheat is as low as it will go.
Then, again, when the corporation
pays the indemnity the farmer still
has the advantage of choosing the
time when he would like to have his
wheat converted to a cash
equivalent. After a loss is approved,
the corporation sends the farmer a
certificate of indemnity indicating the
bushels of indemnity wheat he should
receive. This certificate may be used
7ither to secure commodity loan, if
oans are available, or it may be re-
,urned to the branch office of the
crop insurance and cash settlement
The cash equivalent is de-
on the basis of the market
price of wheat on the day the certifi-
,ate of indemnity is received at the
branch office
Probably l haven't answered all Of
Mr.. Horizons questions and maybe
We raised a lot more but that's al
light. AS he says, there are lots of
lngles to crop insurance that should
,e discussed and there's no use trying
o cover all the ground tonight The
Peoples Voice should be congratu-
ated for providing place where this,
md other questions, may be threshed
tut to everyone's benefit.
JOE KINDRED.