Nine Out of 10 Eligible Acres Covered by Crop Insurance in 2024
National Crop Insurance Services (NCIS) reported 543,753,123 acres of farm and ranchland were covered by crop insurance in 2024. This represents 9 out of 10 eligible acres. Just five years ago, fewer than 379 million acres were insured.
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
States with the most coverage included:
- Iowa, with 22.4 million acres and $16.3 billion in liability protection
- Illinois, with 20.1 million acres and $14.5 billion in liability protection
- California, with 17.1 million acres and $12.5 billion in liability protection
- Minnesota, with 18.1 million acres and $10.9 billion in liability protection
- Nebraska, with 24.7 million acres and $10.4 billion in liability protection
NCIS President Tom Zacharias said high levels of protection have been beneficial to many farmers and ranchers in 2024. Crop insurers delivered more than $800 million in indemnity payments within two weeks of last year’s hurricanes. “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,” Zacharias concluded.
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.