Planning for planting: Federal crop insurance sign-up deadline approaching
News | Published on February 19, 2025 at 3:42pm EST | Author: frazeevergas
0By Kelsey Willardson
policy associate, Center for Rural Affairs
A farmer’s work is never done. Even in winter, farmers are planning for the next planting season. For many operations, planning ahead includes signing up for federal crop insurance.
The deadline to sign up for most types of coverage is March 15, 2025. As weather events become more unpredictable and severe and market fluctuations continue, federally-backed crop insurance is an essential risk management tool for many farmers.
A wide range of coverage is available for agriculture operations. Newer programs, such as Whole Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) and its subprogram Micro Farm, serve small-to-medium-sized, diversified, and organic operations particularly well. These programs are available throughout the U.S. regardless of county and fit all of an operation’s production under a single policy. The policies provide coverage based on an operation’s revenue history and protect against losses from natural causes, such as flooding, hail, and drought, as well as losses from market changes.
Other types of coverage, including multi-peril yield and revenue protection, also support operations in times of loss. It is important for a farmer to speak with an agent to learn what type of policy best suits their needs and operation.
Federal crop insurance is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency and sold by private agents throughout the country. To look for an agent, farmers can visit www.rma.usda.gov/tools-reports/agent-locator. This resource now includes specific help for farmers interested in WFRP and Micro Farm.
The Center for Rural Affairs has developed several resources for farmers who are new to or have questions related to crop insurance. These can be found at www.cfra.org/crop-insurance-resources. One-on-one support is also available, and producers are encouraged to contact Kelsey Willardson at kelseyw@cfra.org if interested.
Established in 1973, the Center for Rural Affairs is a private, nonprofit organization working to strengthen small businesses, family farms and ranches, and rural communities through action oriented programs addressing social, economic, and environmental issues.