CLAY — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is expanding barley-crop insurance availability for New York state producers.

The USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) plans to expand conventional barley-crop insurance to 13 new counties this year and an additional 16 counties for crop year 2017, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D–N.Y.) announced last month.

Additionally, RMA will begin offering coverage for malting barley in four counties beginning in 2017.

Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, on July 22 discussed the USDA’s decision during an appearance at Full Boar Craft Brewery at 5365 W. Taft Road in Clay.

Under current federal law, crop insurance for barley isn’t available in more than half of the counties in New York, so farmers who might want to grow more barley for brewers are holding back because “the risk is too high” because they can’t insure their crops, the Senator said in her remarks at the brewery.

“This is great news for our farmers who can finally feel secure if they decide to grow barley … and it’s great news for our brewers because they are going to have access to a much bigger supply,” Gillibrand said about the expanded USDA barley-crop insurance availability.

Every county has to conduct its own analysis for creating a market for the insurance and how much it will cost and how much it will pay out based on local market, she noted.

It’s a process that each individual county goes through to be able to have that kind of crop insurance.

“Crop insurance … is subsidized by the U.S. government … because we value farming and we value producing our own food,” the senator added.

“Finding good quality grain grown in New York is hard to do at this point. It’s either very expensive or poor quality. Giving farmers access to the necessary insurance to protect themselves should lead to more growers, better quality and lower prices for brewers,” Eric Petranchuk, co-owner and brewmaster at Full Boar Craft Brewery, said.

Pursuing expanded coverage
Gillibrand’s office in February announced that the senator had requested the USDA expand the availability of barley-crop insurance beyond the 28 New York counties that could offer the coverage.

In Central New York, they included Onondaga, Madison, Oneida, Cayuga, Jefferson, Cortland, Herkimer, and Tioga counties.

In her letter, Gillibrand explained “many” producers outside these areas would “benefit” from crop insurance for barley.

Since 2011, the number of farm-based breweries, cideries, and distilleries has increased 72 percent in New York, creating “significant demand” for barley and other small grains, according to Gillibrand.

Under the 2012 legislation creating a farm-brewery license, producers must source a certain percentage of their grain from New York farmers.

Lawmakers designed the legislation to increase demand for locally grown products to “further increase” economic impact and create new businesses surrounding the brewing industry.

But the current USDA policies “may discourage” farmers in New York from growing barley, Gillibrand argued in her appeal to the agency.

Under the policy that the RMA will offer in 2017, if a producer holds a contract to sell malting barley and suffers a yield loss, the insurance can pay up to 1.85 times of the RMA established barley-market price for that loss, according to Gillibrand’s release.

“The crop insurance is very important to farmers in New York state because growing barley or other grains that are going to be malted is very risky,” Steve Miller of Cornell Cooperative Extension, said in his remarks at the event in Clay.

“It’s different than growing corn or soybeans or other grains that are going to go directly to feed. These are for human consumption. They have to stay alive, a viable seed,” said Miller.

The risk is higher with growing and storing malting grains than it is with other types of grains, he added.

The insurance-coverage expansion “will help convince” farmers to take some of that risk to where they will get more money for those grains. The potential for the growing industry is about 10,000 to 20,000 acres in New York, just for malting barleys.

“That can have a great impact for farmers as well as brewers to be able to source those grains here. And we’ve got about eight malt houses in the state now that are using locally owned grains for this process,” said Miller.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com