USDA Fighting Improper Crop Insurance Payments

Crop insurance is a complex program which has opened it up to fraud and improper payments.

Head of the USDA’s Risk Management Agency Brandon Willis said through the use of technology they’ve eliminated approximately half of the errors.

“Data mining allows us to find things that look out of the ordinary. That doesn’t mean something’s wrong, it simply means something is different.”

So far the tool has been used to spot check farmers who had unusual losses or payments, but Willis said they’re going to expand.

“For the first time we will be looking at crop insurance agents through spot checks and data mining. Later this year we’ll actually be also looking at crop insurance adjusters.”

Willis said they’re going all out to minimize incorrect payments especially as the new farm bill negotiations begin.