Podcast
Keep America Growing
Hosted by NCIS · ENGLISH
What’s the latest from the crop insurance industry? Find out from National Crop Insurance Services in quick five-minute monthly episodes. Because crop insurance keeps America growing.
29episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Episode 29: Policy, Pressure, and the Path Forward: A Conversation with Bart Fischer
May 700:22:38Tap to summarizeHow is farm policy keeping up with rising pressure in agriculture? Texas A&M’s Bart Fischer joins Keep America Growing to explain what’s working, what’s not, and why crop insurance still leads the way.
Transcribe →Episode 28: Margins, Risk, and Reality: A Conversation with Dr. Gary Schnitkey
Apr 200:13:32Tap to summarizeTight margins. Rising costs. More risk. In this episode, Dr. Gary Schnitkey from the University of Illinois breaks down what’s happening in the farm economy and why crop insurance matters more than ever.
Transcribe →Episode 27: With Sales Closing on the Horizon, a Conversation with a Crop Insurance Agent
Mar 1000:16:28Tap to summarizeThe March 16 sales closing deadline is approaching, and crop insurance agent Luke Sandrock discusses what farmers are facing as they finalize their 2026 coverage.
Transcribe →Episode 26: Reading the Midterms: A Conversation with David Wasserman
Feb 2500:25:43Tap to summarizeThe senior editor and elections analyst at The Cook Political Report sits down for a wide-ranging discussion on what history tells us about midterms and which races could have an outsized impact on agriculture.
Transcribe →Episode 25: New Year Reflection: Lessons from an Historic Disaster
Jan 2300:10:22Tap to summarizeIn this episode of Keep America Growing, host Tom Zacharias looks back at the 2012 Midwest drought, one of the most significant stress tests in modern agricultural history. The conversation explores how crop insurance performed under unprecedented pressure, why the public-private partnership matters, and what the lessons from 2012 still mean for farm policy today.
Transcribe →Episode 24: Looking Back, Looking Ahead: A Conversation on Crop Insurance with Chairman Conaway
Dec 1800:25:08Tap to summarizeFormer House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway joins Keep America Growing to reflect on how crop insurance evolved into the backbone of the farm safety net, and what policymakers must get right in 2026 to keep it strong.
Transcribe →Episode 23: Trading Places at Trade Talk with Jeff Nalley
Nov 2000:26:54Tap to summarizeNCIS turns the tables at Trade Talk, interviewing a farm broadcaster to discuss how technology has reshaped farm broadcasting, how modern agriculture has become more complex and capital-intensive, and why forward-looking farm policy is more important than ever.
Transcribe →Episode 22: Surviving Helene: Georgia Farmers Share How Crop Insurance Kept Them Farming
Oct 2100:08:56Tap to summarizeOne year after Hurricane Helene devastated parts of the Southeast, Georgia farmers reflect on the storm that wiped out crops, shattered equipment, and threatened family farms. In this special episode, producers share in their own words how crop insurance provided the financial lifeline they needed to recover and rebuild.
Transcribe →Episode 21: Crop Insurance Without Borders: A Global Perspective
Sep 1600:10:19Tap to summarizePascal Forrer of AIAG joins NCIS to discuss why the U.S. system is the global benchmark, the growth of crop insurance abroad, and what’s ahead at AIAG’s Rotterdam congress.
Transcribe →Episode 20: Investing in Research, Training and Education to Strengthen Crop Insurance
Aug 2000:11:36Tap to summarizeDean Strasser shares how NCIS research projects with universities and hands-on adjuster schools make crop insurance smarter, faster, and fairer for farmers.
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