GAO releases report on decreasing the cost of crop insurance to the federal government

On Saturday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report outlining ways USDA can reduce the costs to the federal government for the crop insurance program. It noted that in 2022, the program supported 1.2 million policies covering 493 acres of farmland at $17.3 billion. Of this total amount, $3.7 billion was paid to private companies to administer the program. It noted that between 2011 and 2022, companies received an annual rate of return on retained premiums of 16.8 percent on average (about $1.4 billion in underwriting gains per year), which exceeded a market-based rate of return (10.2 percent). GAO suggested that adjusting the program’s rate of return to more closely reflect market conditions could save the federal government hundreds of millions of dollars per year. In addition, GAO suggested that costs could also be cut by reducing premium subsidies for high-income policyholders. The full report can be found here.

USRPA signs on to a letter on fertilizer prices

On Thursday, USRPA joined other agriculture organizations in calling for the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to consider how tariffs on Moroccan phosphate fertilizer impact domestic producers. ITC was ordered by the U.S. Court of International Trade to reconsider how it determines material injury in a decision issued in September this year. The letter acknowledges the challenges producers have faced due to rising input costs. A copy of the letter can be found here.

Congress releases NDAA conference report

On Wednesday, the House and Senate released the conference report for the fiscal year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act. In the act was a provision to establish an office of counterintelligence within USDA. The House and Senate both passed their respective versions of the bill in July, though neither contained this provision. The two chambers are expected to move quickly towards final passage, hoping to have reached an agreement by the end of next week. The NDAA conference report can be found here; the section on the new office begins on page 2154.