Fundamentally, risk management on a farm is aimed at smoothing out the income or profit stream over time. This is accomplished by accepting lower incomes or profits during good times in exchange for higher incomes or profits during bad times. Crop insurance is an important tool for risk management. This paper describes comprehensively the details about how crop insurance works. Because crop insurance uses futures market prices in some important ways, the paper also briefly reviews how futures markets operate.

Fundamentally, risk management on a farm is aimed at smoothing out the income or profit stream over time. This is accomplished by accepting lower incomes or profits during good times in exchange for higher incomes or profits during bad times. Crop insurance is an important tool for risk management. This paper describes comprehensively the details about how crop insurance works. Because crop insurance uses futures market prices in some important ways, the paper also briefly reviews how futures markets operate.

Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics,