Yield and income risk reduction under alternative crop insurance and disaster assistance designs

This study compares the effectiveness of five crop insurance/disaster assistance plans: an individual farm-yield insurance plan similar to the current Federal Crop Insurance Corporation multiperil program, two area-yield insurance plans, a farm-yield disaster assistance plan, and an area-yield disaster assistance plan. These methods are examined for reduction in yield and gross income variability with and without participation in the government deficiency payment program using farm-level yield data from 98 dryland wheat farms and 38 dryland corn farms in Kansas. Although individual farm-yield insurance is complex, suffers from moral hazard and adverse selection problems, and is likely to be the most expensive to administer, it provides more yield and gross income risk reduction than any of the alternative insurance/disaster assistance plans.