Farmers in North Dakota to Receive Millions.

According to data from the Risk Management Agency, North Dakota farmers will get more than $825 million in compensation for crop losses or commodity decreases in 2008.

"The amount of indemnities paid may continue to climb," said National Crop Insurance Services President Robert Parkerson. "Not all losses have been reimbursed yet because the Risk Management Agency just announced the pricing for the GRIP policies, and many are still pending."

Since the harvest, insurance companies have had a large number of adjusters working on losses, and they will continue to do so until all claims are processed.

The majority of payments are made with private monies rather than government funds. In total, the insurance industry paid out $8.5 billion in losses in 2008.

But despite this, not a lot of farmers are actually using crop insurance. This is why most of them are forced to seek out farm financing loans to keep their business afloat. This is especially true for young and beginning farmers.

The problem is that many farmers are unaware of the available crop insurance options or they don't think they need it. So they choose to go without it and hope for the best. This is a risky gamble, especially given the current state of the economy.

It's important for farmers to understand that crop insurance is an important tool that can help protect their business from financial ruin in the event of a disaster.