The report says a cap would impact relatively few farmers, have little effect on total insurance use and make resources available for conservation programs and other initiatives that help farmers further reduce the risk of weather-related loss.
Currently, the U.S. government pays out more than $7 billion annually in crop insurance subsidies, with the majority going to the largest farms. The proposal offers a range of cap scenarios. The strictest requires the complete elimination of insurance subsidies for any farm with an adjusted gross income over $250,000, which would amount to total savings of $20.2 billion and would impact 10.66 percent of all farms. All of the other caps would provide some savings on subsidy payments and reduce the extent to which subsidy payments are concentrated on a few farms, but to a lesser extent.
NSAC is hosting a webinar later this week to present the full findings of the special report.
