By Charles Abbott Growers are certain to collect record insurance payments for losses on their 2012 crops, hit by the worst drought in half a century. Indemnities totaled $10.7 billion at the start of this week, up $670 million from the preceding week and just shy of the record $10.8 billion paid on 2011 losses. Some analysts expect the final payout to reach $20 billion to $25 billion to create the first money-losing year for insurers in a decade. The 15 crop insurers range from privately held companies to subsidiaries of large corporations, such as Deere & Co, Archer Daniels Midland Co, Wells Fargo & Co, Ace Ltd and QBE Insurance Group Ltd. Crop insurance is the major strand in the U.S. farm safety net. Some 280 million acres of U.S. crops were insured in 2012, the lion's share of plantings. Some experts said up to a quarter of the crop will be abandoned because of poor development. Winter wheat, the dominant U.S. wheat variety, is planted in the fall, goes dormant during the winter and is harvested the following spring. They said high prices encouraged farmers to plant more wheat last fall, despite the moisture-short seedbed. (Additional reporting by Ros Krasny.