Renting the land was a choice.   No body forces anyone to use any borrowed money.  One uses borrowed money because they think they can make more money that way.

Crop insurance allows a person to take on a greater amount of risk then they might choose to if they didn't insure....personally, I would most likely not insure if I was operating with less leverage.  If multi-peril was the only choice, I doubt I would insure with my current position, but the RA policies sell off significant risk at a price I guess I think is acceptable.   Carrying insurance is something I choose to do to pass off some of the risk so that I will be comfortable being more leveraged....because I think it will let me make more money. 

The bottom line is that we earn money mostly by  putting capital at risk.   There is a finite amount of risk that any individual can accept psychologically, and you will make the most money by taking about as much risk as you can 'stand.'