AGRICULTURAL leaders and insurance carriers have long ^ been interested in the possibility of insuring growing crops against unavoidable hazards. Bumper crops in one locality or in one year with partial or total crop losses in other localities or in other years, suggest the desirability of a wider distribution of risks and the possibility of supplementing the lean years with the good years.' In recognition of the economic consequences of crop losses and in view of the need for an orderly arrangement of providing for these losses, Federal crop insurance was made available to wheat growers in 1939 and to cotton growers in 1942.2 Federal crop insurance, as applied to wheat and cotton, is characterized by the following features: (1) Premium and losses are calculated in kind and are payable in kind or in cash equivalents; (2) reserves are carried in the insured commodity which, together with the arrangement for paying premiums and losses in kind, separates production hazards from price movements, and (3) coverage is limited to yields without regard to quality or market values. The writer is especially concerned with whether or not these features could be applied to a plan for crop insurance for tobacco. Also, would yield coverage, without regard to quality, provide the same degree of protection for tobacco growers as it does for wheat and cotton growers? Payments of premiums and losses in kind or in cash equivalents and the operation of a commodity reserve necessitates the conversion of commodities into cash and cash into commodities. Successful execution of these transactions and consequently the workability and adaptability of an in-kind plan of insurance are conditioned by the market organization and the general acceptance of grades and grade-price differentials. These requirements are closely associated with homogeneity of the commodity which makes possible the acceptance of uniform grade requirements for the entire producing area. From the standpoint of grades and grade-price