Integrating prevention into the risk management policy toolkit: A strategy for improving resilience to extreme events

Abstract

The incidence of extreme natural hazard events in the U.S. has been rising, with far-reaching implications for the U.S. agricultural sector. Yet, government expenditures on natural hazards in agriculture remain largely concentrated on recovery programs that compensate producers for damages after the fact. This article presents a risk management approach that incorporates a focus on prevention and mitigation which could offer greater cost-effectiveness and help to build a more resilient agricultural sector. In this context, we explore the U.S. agricultural risk management policy landscape and identify some possibilities for how such an approach could be integrated into current programming.

The crop insurance demand response to the Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus

“…The WHIP+ was similar to the WHIP with the main difference being that WHIP+ offered compensation for losses from a wider array of perils whereas the WHIP was primarily focused on wildfire and hurricane induced losses. Both the WHIP and WHIP+ are part of a broader trend of government outlays for natural disasters in agriculture being primarily focused on ex post recovery programs as opposed to ex ante mitigation efforts (Baldwin & Effland, 2022). Although the WHIP and WHIP+ are legislatively separate programs, they form a virtually identical policy environment in the sense that almost all ad hoc disaster aid during the period from 2017 to 2020 was appropriated and delivered according to similar eligibility requirements and stipulations 8 .…”