WASHINGTON, DC – Senator Charles Schumer is pushing the USDA to expand soybean crop insurance to 14 upstate counties, including Chenango.

“Expanding access to soybean insurance to more of our upstate farmers could be a real game changer,” the New York Democrat said in a statement issued by his office. “Soybeans are a profitable crop that hold real economic potential, but the industry can’t take off if they aren’t given access to some basic protections.”

Earlier this month, the New York Democrat placed a call to Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack, urging an expansion of soybean crop insurance coverage offered through the USDA’s Risk Management Agency to include the 14 counties, each of which had already applied to be included in the program. Those counties are: Chemung, Chenango, Clinton, Columbia, Dutchess, Essex, Franklin, Herkimer, Madison, Oneida, Otsego, St. Lawrence, Tioga and Washington.

According to Schumer, not having the coverage – which protects farmers from soybean crop losses due to weather conditions, infestations, etc. – puts ag producers in the region at a competitive disadvantage.

The senator indicated that Vilsack had been receptive to the idea of expanding the coverage.

“I’m glad Secretary Vilsack is going to give this expansion proposal a close examination and I’m confident USDA will soon see the clear benefits,” Schumer said.

Local agriculture advocates are supportive of the initiative.

“The value of soybean is quite high, so certainly we want to promote the growth of that here in the county,” said Chenango County Farm Bureau President Bradd Vickers, who added that any assistance Chenango can get to help maintain and/or grow the local agricultural industry is “a plus.”

“It’s a good thing,” agreed Field Crop Specialist Kevin Ganoe from Cornell Cooperative Extension of Herkimer County, which covers a six county region, including Chenango.

Farmers are already growing soybeans in Chenango and surrounding counties. According to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, 26,300 bushels of soybeans were harvested from the 500 acres sown with the crop in 2008, the most recent year for which statistics are available. In neighboring Otsego County, 1,000 acres were planted yielding 43,600 bushels that same year; and in Madison County, 3,700 acres were planted, yielding 160,300 bushels. In 2009, the number of acres planted with soybeans increased in Otsego and Madison to 1,300 and 4,400 respectively.