(JAMESTOWN, N.D.) – In comments submitted to USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA), North Dakota Farmers Union urged RMA to reinstate the “buy-up” option it eliminated for prevented planting crop insurance coverage. The option allowed producers to increase their prevented planting coverage by 5% in exchange for a higher insurance premium.
“RMA’s decision to eliminate the buy-up option for producers was based on flawed analysis and should be reversed,” said NDFU President Matt Perdue. “The buy-up option is an important risk management tool for producers in the Prairie Pothole Region, where we commonly face challenges with spring planting conditions.”
In its decision, RMA said farm safety-net improvements and ad hoc disaster programs would provide sufficient protection to offset the elimination of the buy-up coverage.
Perdue said ad hoc disaster programs are not guaranteed and research by North Dakota State University’s Agricultural Risk Policy Center (ARPC) shows loss ratios for the buy-up component are actuarily sound, with premiums sufficient to cover indemnities. Without prevented planting crop insurance, producers might experience losses between $18 to $26 for corn acres and $14 to $21 for soybean acres in years they cannot plant a crop, according to ARPC.
“RMA’s justification that the buy-up option primarily benefits the Dakotas is also inaccurate,” said Perdue. Farm Service Agency data for 2025 shows Arkansas reported the most unplanted acres at 889,366, followed by Mississippi (458,932), Kansas (426,932), North Dakota (382,994) and Texas (285,168).
“Unfortunately, the elimination of the buy-up option will go into effect for this year’s crop,” said Perdue, “which leaves producers unprotected if they have a wet spring that doesn’t allow them to plant their crop.”
USDA administers federal crop insurance through RMA and the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation.
