Fridays on the Farm: Building Resilience Through Risk Management

This Friday meet Eddie Drew Lewis III, a fifth-generation sugarcane farmer in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana. Eddie’s grandfather gave him one rule when he started farming full time: to always have crop insurance. This sage advice has proven to be essential on Eddie’s farm as he’s experienced multiple droughts and freezes over the last few years.

“Insurance is the number one thing that you want to have on the farm,” Eddie said. “That's the first and foremost thing.” 

This rule is something he plans to instill in his children when they hopefully become the sixth generation to manage the land.

The Breadwinner Crop 

Eddie works alongside his brothers, Jordan and Hunter, to farm more than 2,000 acres spanning multiple Louisiana parishes. Growing up, the land and the farm were all the Lewis brothers knew. They helped manage the farm and worked in the fields alongside their extended family. While they also grew corn and okra, sugarcane has always been their breadwinner crop.

“All I know is farming, working hard, watching the dirt flip, taking a baby sugar cane plant to its full production, [and] getting it to the mill,” said Eddie. “It's a lifestyle for us and I want to be able to continue this, to be able to give it to my kids.”

Mother Nature in recent years has tried her darndest to keep that dream from becoming a reality. In the past six years alone, two deep freezes and a generational drought have destroyed most, if not all, of their crops. 

During the first freeze, their crop was obliterated. A few years later, a second freeze ruined nearly 30% of their sugarcane crop. Then the next year, a major drought impacted their ability to plant, but the safety net they had built was there to catch them. In each instance, the Lewis brothers relied on their sugarcane crop insurance policy to fill in the gaps and continue farming.

Relying on Crop Insurance 

According to Eddie, without Federal crop insurance, managed by USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA), a loss of that magnitude would have caused the Lewis family to lose their farm. Thanks to the advice from his grandfather, they were able to survive, replant their crops, and continue farming.

RMA serves America’s agricultural producers through effective, market-based risk management tools to strengthen the economic stability of agricultural producers and rural communities. Approved Insurance Providers sell and service Federal crop insurance policies in every state and in Puerto Rico through a public-private partnership with RMA. Through the RMA Agent Locator, RMA provides insurance agent and provider information to customers in all 50 states.

Eddie observes that as input costs have gone up, the danger of a failed crop has also gone up. A single failed crop, as has happened multiple times over the course of recent years, could cost him the farm. 

Over the years, Eddie’s crop insurance agent has become almost like a family member. He built a yearslong relationship with Eddie’s grandfather and has continued to be a key resource as the current generation manages the farm and the impacts of changing weather patterns.

Multi-generational family farms like Eddie’s are the backbone of America. They provide the food, fuel and fiber to feed, power and clothe the world. Eddie is committed to fulfilling that role and ensuring there is a farm to pass on to his children. Like his grandfather told him, “farming has to be in your blood,” and for Eddie, it is.

The Lewis brothers know that farming is expensive and risky. Every year, they make sure they add the right inputs and put in the time and effort it takes to grow their crop. Then, they hope and pray Mother Nature lets their sugarcane grow. And if she doesn’t? They call their crop insurance agent, file a claim, and try again. 

Because, as Eddie’s grandfather taught him, before you do anything else, buy crop insurance. It could save the farm.

More Information

Visit local farms, ranches, forests, and resource areas through our Fridays on the Farm stories. Meet farmers, producers, and landowners who are working to improve their operations with USDA programs.

Don’t know much about Federal crop insurance, but want to learn more? Get started with RMA’s Basics for Beginners. 

USDA offers a variety of risk management, disaster assistance, loan, and conservation programs to help producers weather ups and downs in the market and recover from natural disasters as well as invest in improvements to their operations. Learn about additional programs.

For more information about USDA programs and services, contact your local USDA service center.

Brandon O’Connor is a public affairs specialist for USDA’s Farm Production and Conservation Business Center.