Climate change is transforming two key pieces of Iowa’s economy – agriculture and insurance.

Although many Iowa farmers are not convinced that shifting weather patterns are the result of human activity, they do adjust to the changes.

Fixes they’ve embraced include genetically engineered seeds designed to withstand drought, pests and high winds. And farmers pay up to obtain the latest in digital and satellite technology for farm equipment and weather forecasting.

One thing we’ve learned from derechos, tornadoes and heat domes is to expect the unexpected.

That is what we’ve had this year, along with corn and soybean prices that are uncomfortably low and inputs – fertilizer, pesticides and fuel – that are distressingly expensive.

As of June, according to the Iowa Department of Revenue’s Iowa Leading Indicators Index, the profit level for corn was the worst since 2006, while soybean and cattle profits were lower than any time since 2020.

Among Iowa’s top four farm commodities, only hogs remain profitable, although pork producers face a health problem – porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome – that researchers at Iowa State University say costs more than $1 billion a year nationwide.

In Iowa, on-farm problems have spilled over to farm equipment and food processing, which account for a good share of Iowa’s factory jobs.

Illinois-based Deere & Co., the world’s largest manufacturer of farm equipment, has laid off more than 2,300 workers in Iowa and Illinois, including nearly 500 salaried employees, a move that some say is reminiscent of the 1980s farm crisis.

Other ag-related layoffs include:

Not all layoffs can be directly tied to Iowa’s weather, but most are connected to global trade, which is affected by worldwide climate changes.

We don’t know yet what the long-range impact of climate change will be in Iowa, although some forecasts predict a longer growing season for us as warmer temperatures move north.

But even if that happens, there’s plenty to worry about in a region that has become overly dependent on a handful of farm commodities at a time when studies show a diversity of crops and animals are better for the environment.

Which brings us to hedging risks and insurance.

Like agriculture, Iowa’s insurance industry has roots in rural Iowa. Most of Iowa’s earliest insurance companies in the late 1800s were county mutuals, created as hedges against storm damage and fire.

Those 19th-century startups helped Iowa become a center of insurance activity as companies grew and developed.

Iowa actuaries – the people who forecast how likely certain events are to happen – have always been among the industry’s best. So, no one should be surprised today when leading Iowa insurers pull out of markets that have become too risky.

Early examples occurred in Florida and California, where hurricanes and forest fires ran up billions of dollars in damages, and where fraud and complicated insurance regulations amplified problems, according to BankRate.com.

Storms are now hitting closer to home. 

The Des Moines Register’s Tyler Jett reported recently that West Des Moines-based IMT Insurance “will exit the Minnesota market, extend a pause on new business and continue to raise customers’ deductibles.”

IMT was one of Iowa’s early and most successful mutual insurers. It was founded in 1884 in Fayette County as the Iowa Mutual Tornado, Cyclone as Windstorm Insurance Association to help backstop the losses of other mutual insurers.

Jett wrote that IMT’s changes come as insurers “continue to struggle in the Midwest because of rising inflation and an increase in the severity and frequency of storms.”

All of which demonstrates that climate change is revamping the way Iowans farm and insurers’ ability to protect them.