Agri-Pulse Communications, Inc., is announcing a free webinar March 2 focused on “Driven by data: Innovation in crop insurance & conservation.” This complimentary one-hour program will discuss this year’s new crop insurance offering, Post-Application Coverage Endorsement (PACE).

“Farmers have never had more reasons to limit their input costs and reduce their environmental footprint. This webinar is a chance to hear from the experts on risk management tools like PACE that are being developed to help growers deal with these challenges,” says Agri-Pulse Executive Editor Philip Brasher, who will moderate the event.

The webinar will take place at 11 a.m. ET and is sponsored by Meridian Institute. Speakers will address how agricultural data can be used to expand and update federal crop insurance products to reflect the value of conservation practices to producers as a risk reduction strategy. You can sign up for this free webinar by clicking on this link.

PACE is currently available across select counties in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. RMA will expand eligibility over the next four years. More information on the program can be found here.

Post Application Coverage Endorsement Tool - This program calculates premiums for PACE: Post Application Coverage Endorsement Insurance.

Speakers include:

USDA, Risk Management Agency Administrator Marcia Bunger joins USDA after serving as a County Executive Director for USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) for 18 years. In total, she has over 25 years of experience working for USDA in the Farm Service Agency. Recently, Bunger founded an agriculture consulting limited liability company providing assistance to area farmers and ranchers and to work with a local crop insurance agency selling and servicing crop insurance policies. She is also the owner and operator of a 2,000-acre, family-owned farm. Bunger graduated cum laude and received her bachelor’s degree from Augustana College.

Todd Barker is CEO of Meridian Institute. He currently leads projects that focus on agriculture, food systems, water, climate, big data, and clean energy. A highlight of his over 20-year tenure at Meridian has been the AGree Initiative, which successfully advocated and lobbied for changes in the 2018 farm bill that support soil health. He also has extensive international experience on food and agricultural issues including but not limited to plant genetic resources, biosafety, ag innovation, risk and resilience and climate change.

Megan Dwyer serves as the nutrient loss reduction manager for the Illinois Corn Growers Association. She leads IL Corn’s water quality and sustainability initiatives focused on implementing the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy and meeting supply chain sustainability demands. Dwyer has been a precision agronomy consultant in both a retail and independent setting prior to joining IL Corn. Her family farm is in Henry County where they grow conventional and non-GMO corn, soybeans, alfalfa and raise beef cattle. Dwyer has a bachelor’s degree in Agriculture Studies with a minor in Agronomy from Iowa State.

David Zanoni is the senior underwriter at the USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA). He provides oversight in program design, risk management, and special projects. Zanoni has led several climate efforts including the implementation of Conservation Compliance for Federal crop insurance following the 2014 Farm Bill and stewarding the privately developed Post-Application Coverage Endorsement product launching for the 2022 crop year. Prior to that, he was the Chief of the Requirements, Analysis, and Validation Branch with RMA for 5 years and an economist with the Prices Branch with RMA for 6 years. Zanoni is a graduate of Georgia Tech.

The webinar will be at 11 a.m. EST on March 2. Registration is free. You can sign up by clicking on this link.

About Agri-Pulse: Agri-Pulse is the most trusted source for agricultural, food and rural policy information in Washington, D.C. and Sacramento, Calif., providing a balanced perspective on a wide variety of issues including the farm bill, nutrition, trade, labor, food safety, water, environment, biotechnology, organic, conservation and crop insurance. Agri-Pulse publishes a subscription-only e-newsletter, the Agri-Pulse Daily Harvest early morning news summary, Agri-Pulse Daybreak, Agri-Pulse DriveTime podcast, Agri-Pulse Newsmakers and breaking news on www.Agri-Pulse.com.