More than 2,000 crop insurance options test 2027 planning

By Nathan Brooks

A central Iowa corn farmer faces more than 2,000 possible crop insurance combinations for 2027, according to Tony Jesina, senior vice president of insurance and consumer lending for Farm Credit Services of America.

Farmers once treated coverage as a simple renewal: keep last year’s policy or move one level up or down. Jesina said current weather and market risks make that approach less reliable, while the wider range of choices can protect a farm’s bottom line better.

What does this change for a corn farmer?

Start with production costs. They establish the farm’s breakeven and profit margins. Working capital—the cash remaining after current liabilities are subtracted from current assets—shows how much weather or market loss the operation can absorb.

Then work with a crop insurance agent to fill the revenue and yield protection gap.

“Every farm will have a gap,” Jesina said. “It’s just how big and what kind of a gap you can afford.”

Farm finances and sales method should shape the policy:

• Younger farmers with slim working capital may need broader, more expensive coverage.
• Experienced farmers with more working capital may choose a cheaper policy with slimmer protection.
• Farmers who feed all grain to livestock may favor bushel protection; crop sellers likely need revenue protection.

What did the July 2025 law change?

Revenue protection has long covered adverse market moves, while yield protection has covered losses from weather perils. The newer development is heavier use of area-based versions of both products.

Jesina said the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which became law in July 2025, directed more premium support toward area options. He also said the law provides an 80% premium-cost subsidy for the Supplemental Coverage Option, or SCO, and the Enhanced Coverage Option, or ECO.

Those products build on multi-peril revenue and yield protection with coverage of 85% for individual policies and 95% for area-based policies.

• SCO requires a farmer first to buy actual production history, yield protection, revenue protection or revenue protection with the harvest price exclusion. It can then lift individual protection as high as 90%.
• ECO protects the band between 90% and 95% of actual production history.

At an 80% insured level with $5-per-bushel corn, a multi-peril policy creates a $4-per-bushel floor. Jesina said prices must drop $1 at a normal yield before that example pays; moving to 90%-95% through SCO or ECO makes a loss trigger more likely.

When do area plans work?

Area plans use county performance instead of each farm and field, and their premiums cost much less than farm- and field-level policies.

“An area plan is based on a whole county and how it performed,” Jesina said. “Think of it as a group plan versus individual medical coverage. Premiums are much cheaper than plans that get down to farm and field levels.”

Jesina said area-plan sales doubled over the past year. He did not provide a starting sales total, policy mix or more precise reporting period, leaving the figure without enough detail to measure market scale.

Area coverage fits a farm whose results generally track county yield and revenue. If it pays an indemnity, the farmer likely experienced a similar event or risk. The mismatch matters: a severe farm-specific setback may not trigger protection if the county avoids the loss. Better soil and rainfall than the county average can also leave an area plan short.

That makes area coverage a lower-cost gap filler, not a universal replacement for individual coverage. It works best when farm and county outcomes correlate; a policy that ignores that relationship can leave the same gap it was meant to fill.

Why are riders and private products changing?

Hail riders remain common, although sales growth has slowed. Jesina tied that shift to farm size: one hailstorm once threatened every acre on a smaller farm, while larger operations spread acres over more land.

Wind riders have gained ground as events such as the 2020 Midwest derecho have increased. Better corn genetics also produce heavier ears, which places more pressure on stalks and raises potential wind damage.

The shift toward area plans has also spurred sales of private products that supplement or complement county coverage. Those products carry no subsidy, so farmers pay 100% of the cost, Jesina said.

By the 2027 crop year, the practical test for every policy will be whether it fills a measured financial gap while matching a farm’s production, sales and county risk.