US crop insurance indemnities have come in below Congressional Budget Office estimates, according to the National Crop Insurance Services (NCIS) trade body.

Indemnities for last year were $US14.2 billion ($13.7 billion) – a record, but lower than the $US16 billion ($15.5 billion) predicted.

The high figure was driven by the Midwest drought that hit a number of US crops. The loss ratio was 1.45, compared with 0.91 in the previous year.

NCIS President Tom Zacharias says the previous claims record was set in 2011, when insurers paid out $US10.8 billion ($10.4 billion) after flooding in the Midwest and a drought in the southern plains.

“The ability of the crop insurance industry to sustain back-to-back insured losses exceeding $US10 billion ($9.6 billion) is a testament to the sound financial underpinning of the public-private partnership,” he said.

“Unlike [with] natural disasters before the emergence of crop insurance, all the cost is not falling on the laps of taxpayers.”

Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Michael Scuse says the Midwest drought put crop insurers to the test, but they “passed with flying colours”.

He says he visited affected farmers, giving them his business card and instructions to call if they had problems.

“To this day, I have yet to have a single producer call me with a complaint about crop insurance,” Mr Scuse said. “That is testament to how well agents, adjusters, insurers and the Risk Management Agency worked together in one of the worst droughts in the history of the nation.”

Congress has downgraded its estimate for claims this year because better weather is expected.

It predicts indemnities of $US10.1 billion ($9.6 billion), dropping to $US9.26 billion ($8.97 billion) by 2016.