Ind. crop insurance payouts for '12 losses top $1B

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Indiana crop insurance payouts for losses during last year's drought have reached a record $1 billion.

Purdue University said Tuesday that Indiana farmers have received the payouts for 2012 corn, soybean and wheat losses. That's nearly twice as much as the previous record of $522 million in 2008.

Purdue Extension agricultural economist Chris Hurt says the total will likely grow in the coming weeks as final claims are filed. He says the payouts are the primary reason Indiana's farm sector income has not collapsed under drought losses.

Indiana corn yields averaged 99 bushels per acre last year, or nearly 40 percent below normal.

Purdue says about 75 percent of Indiana crop acres were insured last year. Farmers wanting insurance for this year's crop must sign up for it by Friday.