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History of Watts and Associates, Inc. Founded in 1986, W&A has completed numerous contracts involving insurance development and has worked with over 1500 individual farm level clients. During the 1980s and 1990s, W&A provided economic and financial consulting to agricultural producers, and agricultural entities. In 2000, W&A initiated a crop insurance development division building upon its econometric and statistical skill sets and crop insurance experience. W&A was subsequently awarded one of four development contracts arising from passage of the Agricultural Risk Protection Act (ARPA) in 1996. Since creating its crop insurance division, W&A has been awarded, or has subcontracted on, 31 contracts in research, feasibility, development, review, and evaluation efforts. Prior to the formation of W&A’s crop insurance division, the firm’s senior management performed numerous projects of similar nature for RMA. The firm’s four principals collectively have more than seven decades of risk management, crop insurance analysis and insurance development experience and have numerous peer-reviewed published articles. W&A’s considerable knowledge and experience with agricultural insurance products and its successful completion of twenty-three RMA research and development efforts and eight ongoing projects provide the firm with an understanding of domestic and international crop insurance development issues. As is shown in Table 1, W&A has obtained approximately $16,000,000 of crop insurance consulting contracts since the inception of the crop insurance division. W&A is presently involved in a variety of consulting contracts with the Federal Government, private industry, and producer organizations. A description of the current operations, products, and services offered by W&A follows: Federal crop insurance program review and development – W&A key personnel have more than a century of experience providing professional services in the areas of data collection, data analysis, research, rating methodology review, interpretation and development, statistical analysis, program development, experiential data collection and analysis, and identification of program weaknesses or vulnerabilities. Further, W&A has provided recommendations for limiting fraud, waste, and abuse within crop insurance programs, recommendations on innovative processes to improve current programs, and recommendations for including additional products in various crop insurance programs or developing new crop insurance programs to include new products. Farm and ranch economic and financial consulting – For more than 20 years, W&A has provided risk management and financial advice to the agricultural community. Farm and ranch risk management and financial analysis – W&A regularly assists agricultural clients with ongoing farm and ranch decisions involving income, production, and credit risk management. The firm routinely develops long-run planning scenarios for specific farm operations based on historical production income and expenses. Further, W&A analyzes historical farm records in relation to regional indicators to assess potential income and production risks. Expert witness testimony – W&A has provided testimony in more than 350 cases, assisting the legal and business community by providing an economic perspective to the analysis of complex economic and business issues. Economic damage determination and breach of contract and implied contract – W&A has participated in over 100 cases, from class action suits to single party suits, with damages ranging from $100,000 to $400,000,000: Lost profits analysis – Substantial participation in numerous cases. Case management – Assist counsel in identifying, locating, and coordinating expert witnesses and developing case strategies. Franchisee and franchiser litigation – Determine damages resulting from loss of crop and livestock production in agriculture. Large-scale tax matters and litigation economics – Participation in numerous cases involving capital gains taxes upon liquidation, estate tax matters, and disputed income taxes – capital gains taxes, inheritance taxes, and income taxes ranging from $50,000 to $500,000,000. Business reorganization and bankruptcy – Experience in more than 1,500 restructures and more than 150 reorganization bankruptcies (Chapters 11 and 12). Discount rate issues – Developed a publication on discount rate issues to assist the legal community in various issues of lost earnings and profits. Clients – United States Department of Agriculture, Farm Service Agency, Risk Management Agency, Department of the Army, Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney, State of Montana, United States Trustee, Internal Revenue Service, various insurance companies, various law firms, plaintiffs, defendants, and hundreds of agricultural producers. In both the private and governmental sectors, W&A has earned a reputation for delivering high-quality outputs in a timely manner. The firm’s professional staff represents a unique marriage of advanced degrees and professional experience including:
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