Margin protection insurance for corn and soybeans is being expanded to over 1,000 additional counties in 2024 due to producer interest, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA).

This expansion, which is in direct response to growing interest among farmers, will be available by June 30, 2023. Interested farmers will need to purchase their coverage by Sept. 30, 2023, to be eligible for the 2024 crop year.

“Increasing the availability of a program is sometimes the best way we can improve upon an effective program and serve our farmers with more risk management resources,” RMA Administrator Marcia Bunger said in a news release. “This expansion of Margin Protection will provide a viable insurance option for so many more farmers across the country, giving them greater protection possibilities, and helping us continue our commitment of increasing the availability and effectiveness of Federal crop insurance as a risk management tool.”

RMA is adding 1,255 counties for soybeans and 1,729 counties for corn. After the expansion, the insurance will be available for soybean acres in 34 states and all of the contiguous United States for corn.

See maps for where expanded opportunities for soybeans are located in 79 counties in Texas.

See maps for where expanded opportunities for corn are located in 139 counties in Texas.

The plan also is available for rice in Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Texas and for wheat in Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.

In the 2022 crop year, there were 1.7 million acres of corn and 1 million acres of soybeans insured under the margin protection insurance plan.

Margin protection can be purchased by itself, or in conjunction with a yield protection or revenue protection policy purchased from the same approved insurance provider that issued the margin protection policy. Margin Protection cannot be purchased with the Supplemental Coverage Option or the Enhanced Coverage Option.

The inputs considered in the coverage are diesel, interest, diammonium phosphate, urea and potash for corn, and diesel, interest, diammonium phosphate and potash for soybeans.

The insurance protects against reduced margins that result from losses in yields, cuts in commodity prices, increases in input costs, or some combination of all three. Margin protection policies can be bought along with yield or revenue protection policies.

Margin protection insurance, first implemented for the 2016 crop year, protects against decreases in margin caused by reduced county yields, reduced commodity prices, increased price of certain inputs or any combination of these issues. It is area-based, using county-level estimates of average revenue and input costs to establish the amount of coverage and indemnity payments.

Learn more about crop insurance and the modern farm safety net at rma.usda.gov or by contacting your RMA regional office.