More than 2.4 million policies provide $159 billion in coverage across 544 million acres today
With the March 17 deadline approaching for farmers to purchase crop insurance for spring seeded crops like corn and soybeans, National Crop Insurance Services (NCIS) released results of a near-record year in 2024.
Farmers and ranchers spent more than $6 billion from their own pockets in 2024 to purchase 2.4 million crop insurance policies, which provided $159 billion in protection against weather and market losses, according to NCIS.
Nationwide, 543,753,123 acres of farm and ranchland were covered in 2024 – or nine out of 10 eligible acres. That’s up dramatically from just five years ago, when fewer than 379 million acres were insured.
The states with the most coverage included Iowa (22.4 million acres, $16.3 billion liability protection); Illinois (20.1 million acres, $14.5 billion liability protection); California (17.1 million acres, $12.5 billion liability protection); Minnesota (18.1 million acres, $10.9 billion liability protection); and Nebraska (24.7 million acres, $10.4 billion liability protection).
“Thankfully our farmers and ranchers had high levels of protection in a 2024,” said NCIS President Tom Zacharias. “For example, crop insurers delivered more than $800 million in indemnity payments within two weeks of last year’s deadly hurricanes, making it among the first meaningful money to arrive after Milton and Helene.”
Total indemnity checks delivered nationwide in 2024 is still being calculated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture but already totals $12.8 billion.
Zacharias urged agricultural producers to contact their crop insurance agents by the March 17 sales closing date to review their operations’ past performance and design a crop insurance plan tailored specifically for the upcoming crop year.
“Crop insurers are offering more risk management products than ever and investing heavily in technology and training to speed delivery to America’s farmers and ranchers if disaster strikes,” he concluded.
NCIS is the only organization that represents all companies authorized to offer crop insurance in the United States. It supports the industry in both the state and federally regulated lines of business and provides research and actuarial and analytical support to insurers. More information about crop insurance can be found at cropinsuranceinamerica.org.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250312456762/en/
Contacts
Phillip Hayes
(202) 271-5734, phayes@ffcommunications.com
