Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig is urging farmers and landowners who planted cover crops last fall to apply for the state’s Crop Insurance Discount Program before the Jan. 26 deadline. Eligible producers can receive a $5 per acre discount on spring crop insurance premiums. The program, now in its seventh year, is administered by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Risk Management Agency. Nearly 2,000 Iowa farmers have enrolled over 1,000,000 acres of cover crops in the program, which serves as a model for other states and the federal government. Naig says, “Iowa farmers and landowners continue to utilize conservation and water quality practices, including cover crops, at record levels. The Crop Insurance Discount Program helps defray some of the costs of getting these cover crops established, so I encourage farmers to get their eligible acres enrolled before the deadline.” To qualify, cover crop acres cannot be enrolled in other state or USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service cost-share programs. Farmers can sign up at Apply.CleanWaterIowa.org.
