Crop insurance claims way up

It may be another year before last year’s Illinois drought impacts crop insurance rates, and even then to a minimum, despite what is likely to be a national record in damages, risk management experts said this week. Lower food prices toward the end of the season coupled with improvements in harvests of corn and soybeans will bring damages down from early projections. However, experts anticipate a national record for claims against losses to the tune of around $15 billion, outpacing the record set last year because of drought conditions in Texas the year before, said Doug Yoder of the Illinois Farm Bureau.