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Valley crop insurance expert Jordan Roach goes to Washingtonto speak before congressional subcommittee

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Aug. 10, 2010

Jordan Roach, a Fresno-based crop insurance expert and vice president of Mary Roach Insurance Inc., recently testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. Congress about the state of the crop insurance industry and what he described as the mishandling of Standard Reinsurance Agreement (SRA) negotiations by the United States Department of Agriculture. 

Roach, who is also vice chairman of the Crop Insurance Professionals Association (CIPA), discussed the issues with members of the House Ag Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management.

Roach's expertise and stature in the crop insurance industry led to his appearance before the congressional committee. Mary Roach Insurance has provided ranchers and farmers throughout California with professional, trustworthy crop insurance policies since 1992.

In his testimony, Roach told Congress members that the crop insurance industry has seen positive growth and has increased in importance in recent years. He went on to say that USDA had missed an opportunity to strengthen the nation's crop insurance program - an essential piece of the overall safety net for producers of nearly all crops - and had essentially shortchanged the agriculture budget and farmers by $6 billion due to mishandling of the SRA negotiations.

"The recently concluded SRA process marked a missed opportunity to strengthen federal crop insurance for producers while saving on delivery costs," Roach said. "Instead, spin and cynicism trumped aspiration and everybody lost. Producers lost the opportunity for better coverage at lower cost, Congress lost funds to write a new Farm Bill and companies and agents lost revenues used to meet payroll and sell and service policies for farmers and ranchers."

Roach went on to comment to committee members on his confidence in the crop insurance industry in general, describing the sector as dynamic and service oriented. He also noted that there is a tremendous opportunity to build upon the successful public-private partnership in advance of the 2012 Farm Bill.

Roach said that federal crop insurance works well for so many, and asked the subcommittee to "consider what it (crop insurance) can be if we join together to encourage USDA to use its authority to expand quality coverage for all crops in all areas, and improve existing policies so that all producers have viable options to buy-up at the 85 percent protection level."

Roach takes his representation of Valley growers and farmers seriously, and said he is proud to have been asked to speak at the national level.

There's one key message he drives home on behalf of his local clients: "In contrast to the rest of the country, crop insurance is literally the only safety net for specialty crops in California," Roach said. "Other programs are either inadequate or unavailable to Valley growers."