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Pittsburg, Kansas | I agree with the crop insurance. There is no way we could have grown to the size operation we had without the subsidized crop insurance. Our lender would likely have reined us in. Heck I would have reined us in.
With crop insurance at least it would cover most of the out of pocket costs so you had enough income to get to do it again next year.
Right before crop insurance became a reasonable thing, western Kansas had about three years of bad drought that did clean out some farmers out there. I was well aware of the possibility of it happening in SE Kansas. Went to several crop insurance meetings put on by K State promoting it. Art Barnaby, Mike Sands, Bill Tierany on the road show at local farm offices. Later Terry Kastens who was both an academic economist as well as a farmer.
Crop insurance, in my opinion, sped up the loss of smaller farms. It sure allowed our farm a lot faster growth than it could have had organically.
And I would agree that crop insurance contributed to land prices rising. Guaranteed income at least enough to cover a lender's payment obligation. Our lender required us to take crop insurance. But I see it as a more minor contribution with money debasement being the major part. A lot of non farm money goes into farm land. Goes into everything rising prices in general. Including commodities.
Edited by John Burns 1/19/2026 06:44
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Exponential growth and farming
