NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RFD NEWS) — Record crop insurance participation highlights the program’s central role in the farm safety net as producers approach the March 16 sign-up deadline for spring-seeded crops like corn and soybeans.
National Crop Insurance Services reports farmers purchased 2.54 million policies in 2025 — an all-time high — covering a record 561 million acres nationwide, with nearly 117 million acres added since 2021. Those policies delivered more than $159.3 billion in liability protection against weather and market losses, while producers invested more than $6.25 billion of their own money in coverage.
Ranchers also expanded participation, spending $1.1 billion on livestock coverage that provided an additional $40.2 billion in liability protection across U.S. agriculture.
Crop insurance was available in every state in 2025 and now covers most eligible farmland, reinforcing its role as agriculture’s primary risk management tool as policymakers continue debating the future farm bill framework.
With the March 16 deadline approaching, producers are encouraged to review coverage options with their agents as weather volatility and tight margins continue to shape risk decisions.
With tight margins heading into the spring planting season, many farmers are turning to risk management tools to help manage revenue threats and financial uncertainty. The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) says it will give producers the certainty they need to manage risk in the months ahead.
Farm Bureau Economist Dr. Faith Parum joined us on Thursday’s Market Day Report to discuss options available to producers as they prepare for the 2026 crop year. In her interview with RFD NEWS, Parum reviewed spring crop insurance prices and explained their importance for farmers making planting decisions as the season approaches.
“For 2026, spring prices were finalized at approximately $4.62 per bushel for corn, $11.09 per bushel for soybeans, and $6.19 per bushel for wheat. Of course, other crops have been finalized,” explains Farm Bureau Economist Dr. Faith Parum. “Spring prices are set by the future prices through the month of February for these crops, and so this will be helpful in determining the coverage levels for crop insurance.”
Dr. Parum does note some slight changes from what farmers saw in spring 2025.
“So for corn, we see a price that’s down about 1.7 percent; we also see prices for wheat being down about 5.5 percent, while soybean prices are up,” Parum noted. “It’s important to know that this is the spring price, and so we’ll have to wait to see what the harvest price looks like in the fall to know what coverage will be for crop insurance.”
However, Parum highlighted that farmers do have a stronger safety net this year, thanks in part to updates in last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), citing programs like Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC). On the livestock side, there are programs such as Livestock Risk Protection (LRP), Livestock Gross Margin (LGM), and Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC).
She also outlined how crop insurance, ARC, and PLC programs work together as part of the broader farm safety net, helping producers manage risk during uncertain market conditions, and discussed benchmark prices under ARC and effective reference prices under PLC for the 2026 crop year, and how those levels compare with previous years.
