In Friday’s roundtable discussion on the new $1.5 billion in disaster aid with North Dakota Senator John Hoeven, local sugar cooperatives expressed appreciation to be part of the WHIP plus program. There are more questions than answers on how this will work with crop insurance. Hoeven is setting up a meeting with sugar cooperatives and USDA Under Secretary Bill Northey in Washington D.C. in January to work out some of those details. “We’re figuring an average crop insurance purchase by most of the growers of about 75 percent. Then, it adds another 17.5 percent on top of that. It’s 92.5 percent coverage they get of the insurable value, but it goes to the cooperative,” explains Hoeven. “The cooperative will make an adjustment based on who harvested and who didn’t. The mechanics need to be finalized.” There were also discussions on how the Farm Service Agency approaches quality losses in the program. North Dakota Farm Service Agency State Executive Director Brad Thykeson told attendees work must be done with the Risk Management Agency protocol to base numbers on the indemnity. Listen to the story.