That's a great question. There's some confusion out there among farmers as this program has been discussed, as well. The cattle price insurance, which is certainly the one I was referring to, is an insurance program where producers can basically, for a premium, lock in a price based on an index. The index is based on expected future prices that are found through the CME in Chicago and from historical basis levels for that time of year. It is completely market-driven, and it is not based on the cost of production at all. So market signals will not be muted at all with the implementation of this program. However, it will be a very effective risk management tool for producers to use.
On December 15th, 2011. See this statement in context.