As the March 15 crop insurance deadline comes into view, growers will be finalizing insurance decisions. Kent Thiesse, a farm management analyst at Farm Forum says 2024 spring prices for both corn and soybeans will likely be reduced substantially from base price levels in 2023. But he says there should still be some favorable crop insurance guarantees again this year at reasonable premium costs. Farmers can choose form yield-only (YP) and revenue protection (RP and RPE) policies, SCO and ECO policies and other private insurance options. Most farmers have chosen revenue protection (RP) insurance options, providing a guaranteed minimum dollars of gross revenue per acre based on yield history.

As of February 2024, crop insurance Spring price estimates in the Upper Midwest for YP, RP and RPE policies were estimated at $4.70 for corn and $11.75 per bushel of soybeans. These prices will finalize on March 1. Data from the past 17 years indicates final crop insurance harvest price for corn has been lower than the Spring base price in 11 of the 17 years, while 2020 – 2022 reversed that trend.

Read more on crop insurance, Spring prices and upcoming deadlines here.