The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is hosting more than a dozen in-person and virtual workshops this winter for producers to learn about new and expanded livestock risk management products. The “Livestock Roadshow,” hosted by USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA), will highlight policy improvements based on feedback from America’s livestock producers as part of the agency’s broader outreach and education efforts.
“Listening to farmers and ranchers, learning about their needs, and using feedback to make improvements to risk management options is a top priority for Risk Management Agency,” said RMA Administrator Marcia Bunger. “We are committed to expanding the reach of crop insurance, especially to producers who haven’t previously participated. The Livestock Roadshow is one of our many efforts to provide outreach and education to America’s agricultural producers.”
Improvements to livestock insurance options have led to tremendous growth. For example, Livestock Risk Protection grew by 250% in two years, with about 27 million head of cattle insured in 2023. Meanwhile, Livestock Gross Margin grew by 600 percent in two years, with about 14.5 million head of cattle insured in 2023.
To ensure livestock producers across the country can attend a livestock roadshow event, two virtual livestock roadshows are scheduled for January. To learn more about the virtual roadshows, and to see the full listing of upcoming in-person roadshow events, visit the Livestock Roadshow webpage.
Producers attending the Livestock Roadshow events can expect to learn more about:
- Annual Forage
- Dairy Revenue Protection
- Livestock Gross Margin
- Livestock Risk Protection
- Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage
- Weaned Calf Risk Protection
The Livestock Roadshow builds on other recent outreach and education efforts. Earlier this year, RMA held a roadshow highlighting insurance options for specialty crop, organic, and urban producers, drawing more than 3,000 attendees. Additionally, since 2021, RMA has invested around $13 million in partnerships to advance risk management education. Learn more on the Outreach and Education webpage.
A humble homesteader based in an undisclosed location, Lars Drecker splits his time between tending his little slice of self-sustaining heaven, and bothering his neighbors to do his work for him. This is mainly the fault of a debilitating predilection for fishing, hunting, camping and all other things outdoors. When not engaged in any of the above activities, you can normally find him broken down on the side of the road, in some piece of junk he just “fixed-up.”
