North Dakota farmers will enter the 2026 spring planting season without a key federal crop insurance option that has historically provided coverage when weather prevents planting.
Under the federally subsidized crop insurance program, farmers receive coverage if weather conditions prevent planting. When a farmer cannot plant, they may file a claim under the prevented planting provision. In previous years, producers could pay an additional premium to purchase a higher level of prevented planting coverage. However, that buy-up option is not available for the 2026 crop year.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency announced last fall that it was eliminating the extra coverage option for prevented planting insurance.
Significant Use in North Dakota
The additional prevented planting coverage was widely used in North Dakota. According to the Agricultural Risk Policy Center at North Dakota State University, the buy-up option resulted in $3.18 billion in payments to North Dakota producers from 2010 through 2024. That total exceeded payouts in any other state during the same period.
Matt Perdue, president of the North Dakota Farmers Union, described the agency’s decision as disappointing, noting that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed last year expanded federal crop insurance in other areas.
An NDSU study concluded that improvements in other parts of the crop insurance program will not outweigh the loss of the additional prevented planting coverage for North Dakota producers.
The rule cannot be changed for the 2026 crop year. However, last month, a group of senators, including Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins requesting that the prevented planting changes be reversed beginning in 2027. The letter stated that restoring the option would help provide “a layer of certainty when disasters beyond their control render them unable to plant a crop.”
Geographic and Agronomic Factors
North Dakota’s growing conditions contribute to the importance of prevented planting coverage. The state has some land with poor drainage and a shorter spring planting window than many other states. These factors have made the additional prevented planting option particularly attractive to producers.
The coverage has also been used outside North Dakota. NDSU reported claims in states including South Dakota, California, and Arkansas.
Justin Quandt, who farms near Oakes, North Dakota, said he and his family partners typically purchase the additional coverage. The policy requires that all acres farmed in a county be covered under the buy-up option, but Quandt said his family would still invest in it.
The Quandt family farms along the James River in Dickey County in southern North Dakota. Soil conditions vary significantly across their operation. On the east side, sandy soils drain well, and standing water does not typically pose a springtime issue. On the west side, prairie pothole terrain includes dips and gullies that can fill with snowmelt or spring rain. In wet years, those areas may remain too saturated for planting, triggering a prevented planting claim.
The family also farms in Sargent County, where drain tile has been installed to improve field drainage. In those fields, the additional prevented planting coverage is not necessary.
Quandt noted that federal conservation easements prohibit installing drain tile on certain Dickey County land that can become too wet to plant. In addition, some sandy acreage requires irrigation to produce a crop. If reservoir water levels drop too low during a dry year, that situation could also lead to a prevented planting claim.
Insurance Market Response
Bethany Rentz, an agent in the Hillsboro office of West Fargo-based Ihry Insurance, said increased subsidies within the federal crop insurance program may help farmers purchase additional coverage for other risks, such as storm damage or drought after planting. However, she said there are no alternative insurance options available for producers in 2026 if the weather disrupts planting before crops are established.
Farmers face a March 15 deadline to make crop insurance purchases for the upcoming season.
Rentz said she hopes responses from multiple states on the policy change will prompt the USDA Risk Management Agency to reconsider eliminating the additional prevented planting coverage in future years.
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