Effective Aug. 31 Robert Parkerson, president of National Crop Insurance Services (NCIS), will retire, the organization said.

Executive Vice President Tom Zacharias will step into the role.

Mr. Parkerson was credited with increasing the visibility and credibility of the representative of private crop insurance companies, said Steve Harms, chairman of NCIS and Rain and Hail LLC, in a statement.

"During Bob's tenure at NCIS crop insurance has grown to become the cornerstone of agricultural risk management," said Mr. Harms.

Mr. Parkerson joined NCIS in 1993 from the Crop Insurance Research Bureau, where he was president.

Mr. Zacharias started with NCIS in 1990 and was promoted to executive vice president in 1998. He served on the faculties of Iowa State University and Louisiana State University prior to joining NCIS.

Mr. Parkerson departs as independent agents and underwriters spar with U.S. Agriculture Department representatives over agent commission caps put forth as part of mandated cuts in funding of 30 percent over 10 years to the federal crop insurance program. A new Standard Reinsurance Agreement (SRA) cuts U.S. subsidies to the federal program by $6 billion over the next decade. The new contract requires caps on agent commissions.

The size of the cuts "remains unsupported and represents a decided risk to the companies," Mr. Parkerson said earlier this month.