USDA Proposal to End Prevented-Planting Buy-Up Coverage Sparks Broad Farmer Backlash
Producers warn removal would weaken risk protection far beyond the Dakotas
USDA’s plan to eliminate buy-up coverage for prevented planting — a long-standing option that provides farmers an additional 5% indemnity above basic coverage — has triggered significant concern from growers across the country.
Point, counterpoint: While USDA argues the enhancement is no longer needed due to Congress’ history of providing ad-hoc disaster aid, farmers say the proposal undermines a critical, predictable component of the crop-insurance safety net at a time when weather volatility is rising nationwide.
Prevented planting coverage is embedded in every crop insurance policy, but the optional buy-up level allows producers to pay a modestly higher premium in exchange for stronger protection when they cannot plant due to flooding or other insured causes of loss.
USDA’s justification centers on the Prairie Pothole Region, where the bulk of prevented-planting indemnities are historically paid and where many Dakotas farmers routinely elect the buy-up option. Officials argue that congressional interventions — such as the 2019 Supplemental Disaster Bill, which provided an additional 10% to 15% “top-off” payment to producers who had already received prevented-planting indemnities — demonstrate that future widespread flooding is likely to be handled through legislative relief rather than permanent insurance enhancements.
But farmers emphasize that prevented-planting risks are not confined to the Dakotas. Growers in the Mississippi River Basin, the Ohio Valley, the Delta, the Southeast, the Mid-Atlantic, and parts of the Corn Belt also depend on buy-up coverage to withstand increasingly erratic spring weather, saturated soils, and slow fieldwork windows. Producers warn that relying on Congress for future disaster assistance—rather than maintaining a known, actuarially sound insurance option—creates uncertainty and exposes them to political delays.
| Evidence of Increased Prevented-Planting in Arkansas and the South (2025) According to a recent report, there are nearly 4.9 million prevented-planting acres nationwide in 2025, and the report lists Arkansas at around 889,366 prevented-plant acres — the largest single-state total this year. Data from the state’s rice crop-reporting service shows multiple Arkansas counties (Jackson, Lawrence, Cross, Poinsett, Craighead) among those with highest prevented-planting acreage this season. Flooding and excessive rainfall earlier in the season hit parts of Arkansas hard: one state assessment estimated that 31% of planted acreage (as of April 7) had already been flooded. A mid-year crop-reporting update for rice suggested that while some acres were planted, many fields remain unplanted or abandoned — and some producers hinted they may claim prevented planting insurance rather than risk late planting or low yields. Bottom Line: Arkansas is seeing unusually high prevented-planting acreage in 2025 (especially rice), and similar patterns are showing up in other Southern row-crop states. |
Farm groups argue that buy-up coverage has been one of the few tools that provides timely, automatic relief without requiring new legislation, negotiations, or delays in payment. Its removal, they contend, would weaken risk management for thousands of operations that depend on prevented-planting protections to secure financing, maintain planting flexibility, and manage early-season weather shocks..
As USDA moves forward with the rulemaking process, opposition is broadening beyond the northern Plains. Farmers in multiple regions are pressing the department to reconsider, warning that the elimination of buy-up coverage would shift more risk onto producers at the very moment they are facing tighter margins, more unpredictable climate conditions, and rising input costs.
