INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana State Department of Agriculture, The Nature Conservancy, and the United States Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency have joined forces to implement the Cover Crop Premium Discount Program for the fourth year in a row.
This discount program rewards farmers who plant cover crops by providing a reduced premium on their crop insurance. It was designed to promote planting additional acres of cover crops that are not covered by other state or federal incentives and is eligible for 26 out of the 92 counties in Indiana.
Over the last year, this program has had great success with 117 farmers participating, translating to more than 35,000 acres of cover crops on Indiana farmland in the watershed.
Farmers who plant cover crops on owned or rented acres will receive a $5 per acre crop insurance premium discount. Farmers who planted cover crops in the fall of 2023 are eligible to apply.
Local qualifying counties in the project area include Bartholomew, Johnson, Jackson, Jennings, Brown, Decatur, and Shelby.
Cover cropping has many benefits including increased organic matter, improved soil biology as well as better water infiltration and water-holding capacity. Hoosier farmers planted 1.6 million acres of living covers in 2022 and, apart from corn and soybeans, are planted on more acres than any other commodity crop in Indiana.
Funding for this program is provided by a Clean Water Indiana grant and the Cummins Foundation, which is supporting The Nature Conservancy to improve water quality across Indiana and the Mississippi River Basin.
Applications are due by March 15, 2024, or when available funds are exhausted. Learn more and apply here or visit isda.in.gov.
