WILSON N.C. — Agriculture is North Carolina’s top industry, but another works hand-in-hand with it to keep farmers in their fields even when business is risky. Insurance is the lesser known, but no less important, backbone of agriculture, working to keep it economically sound.
What You Need To Know
- Farmers can’t guarantee a profit from their work each year
- Bad weather and variable costs can weigh on the industry
- Today, over 90% of the farmland in America is insured
- Though farmers won’t get all of their money back after a crop loss, most farmers say insurance is the only way the industry can work
In order for agriculture to remain a viable industry, growers need a safety net in place. Federal crop insurance first started in the 1930s after the Great Depression to help agriculture recover some of its losses from the Dust Bowl era.
Today, independent agents like Brad Bass, and nationwide agencies like Farm Bureau, work to protect farmers like Brooks Barnes and their assets so that investments make sense from a business standpoint.
“That’s way too big of a risk to take to invest the amount of capital it takes to grow these crops, and on the scale that we’re growing them,” Barnes said. “I couldn’t, and I don’t think anybody else would either, would be willing to plant a crop of any sort without some insurance backing, just in case.”
Brooks Barnes and Brad Bass discuss the insurance plan they put together for the year. (Spectrum News 1)
“This kind of livelihood starts with the insurance part of it,” Bass said. “We’ve had some hurricanes in the past; dry weather, wet weather. That’s something me and him go over every year about December, January, kind of trying to strategize with a plan.”
Brad Bass grew up working in tobacco fields himself and worked in a tobacco warehouse before switching to insurance in 1997. Now as an insurance agent, his off-season is when farmers are busy in their fields, so he can pop by farms in person.
“As an agent, I’m just here to support him, to see what he may need this time,” Bass said. “I love being able to come out here, not really stuck behind a desk all day, still do paperwork, but also getting to visit with the farmer.”
Just like home or auto insurance, crop insurance serves to get a farmer back to square one when the worst happens.
“We’re never going to get it all back, but it gives them a good safety net to try to keep going year in and year out,” Bass said.
And it’s that kind of trust that keeps the risky industry that is agriculture moving forward in North Carolina.
“Relationships are everything in business and, you know, it means a lot to know that if something bad happens, Brad’s gonna do everything he can to make sure I’m looked after,” Barnes said.
Barnes and Bass walk behind the tobacco planter inspecting the crop as it’s being planted. (Spectrum News 1)
