A Crop Insurance Discount Program will provide farmers and landowners who plant fall cover crops the opportunity to apply for a $5 per acre discount on their spring crop insurance premiums.
According to a press release, The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship will be opening the sign-up period from Dec. 1 2023 to Jan. 26, 2024. The program is jointly administered by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Risk Management Agency.
“Cover crop utilization in Iowa continues to rise because of innovative incentives like the Crop Insurance Discount Program. Iowa is a leader in conservation innovation and this successful program, which was first developed and launched in Iowa, has become a model in other states and at the national level,” said Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig. “This incentive can help defray some of the cover crop seeding costs on more acres, so we invite farmers and landowners to get their eligible acres signed up before Jan. 26. As cover crops offer water quality and soil health improvements, valuable forage for livestock and many more agronomic benefits, we want to significantly increase the number of Iowa cover crop acres in the years ahead.”
Noted in the release, Iowa’s program has served as a model and has been replicated by the USDA as well as Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana.
More about the program
Since 2016, the Crop Insurance Discount Program has enrolled nearly 2,000 farmers, who have seeded more than one million acres of cover crops to date. To qualify for the program, the cover crop acres cannot be enrolled in other state or United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) cost share programs.
Farmers can check with their nearby USDA Service Center to find out about additional funding that can help with conservation practices. It’s important to note that certain insurance policies, like Whole-Farm Revenue Protection or those covered by written agreements, might not qualify. Farmers need to stick to the farming practices required by their policy and coordinate with their insurance agencies to stay eligible.
To sign-up to participate, visit Apply.CleanWaterIowa.org.
