Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig announced today that the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship will again offer its crop insurance discount program for acres that are planted with cover crops. Farmers and landowners who plant fall cover crops will have the opportunity to apply for a $5 per acre discount on their spring crop insurance premiums.
Farmers and landowners may start enrolling in the crop insurance discount program on December 1.
“Planting cover crops improves water quality, enhances soil health, produces valuable forage and feed for livestock and yields many other agronomic benefits for farmers,” said Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig. “Cover crop utilization continues to rise in Iowa, and we want to further accelerate the adoption of this proven water quality practice by offering this crop insurance discount incentive.”
To qualify for the program, the cover crop acres cannot be enrolled in other state or United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) cost share programs.
Now in its seventh year, this innovative program has become a model for other states as well as the federal government. To date, nearly 2,000 farmers have enrolled over 1,000,000 acres of cover crops in the program.
Source : iowaagriculture.gov