Crop-Hail Insurance, 1965--Volume, Cost, Indemnities

Excerpts from the report: The volume of crop-hail insurance in the United States expanded in most years since the 1930's and reached an alltime high of $3.1 billion in 1965. It was about 6 percent above 1964 and nearly half again as high as in 1955. The rising trend in coverage largely reflects the increasing costs of production and the higher valuation of many crop harvests. Purchases of hail insurance by farmers vary among and within States, depending upon such factors as the likelihood of hail during the growing season and the susceptibility of the crops grown to hail damage. Hail is most frequent in the Mountain and Plains regions and least frequent in western parts of the Pacific States and southern sections of Texas and Florida. The Corn Belt accounted for slightly more than half of all crop-hail insurance in the United States in 1965. Although hail is only moderately frequent in that region, severe damage occurs at times and the risk in terms of production costs and crop values is relatively high. The Northern Plains region is next in use of crop-hail insurance because of frequent hail losses to wheat and other small grains. The susceptibility of tobacco to hail damage is the major cause of the comparatively large amount of insurance in the Appalachian region.