U.S. Crop-Insurance Claims Jump Amid Planting Delays

U.S. farmers who were prevented from planting by rain this year filed crop-insurance claims on six times more land than last season, the government said. Farmers filed claims on 8.213 million acres of grains, oilseeds, cotton and sugar as of Sept. 1, according to revised estimates released today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency. That compares with 7.71 million acres at the beginning of August and last year’s total of 1.239 million acres. The FSA is set to update its data monthly through January, with its next report on Oct. 16.