Posted 4 December, 2025
The sign-up is now open for the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship’s (IDALS) annual Crop Insurance Discount Program. The innovative program offers farmers a $5 per acre premium reduction for fall-planted cover crops.
The online sign-up is open Dec. 1, 2025, through Jan. 23, 2026. Participants should enroll at apply.cleanwateriowa.org by contacting their crop insurance agent.
The Crop Insurance Discount Program, part of the implementation of Iowa’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy, provides a $5 per acre premium reduction for fall-planted cover crops. There is no acreage cap for eligible acres. To qualify, cover crop acres cannot be enrolled in other IDALS or USDA-NRCS cost-share programs. Certain insurance policies, including Whole-Farm Revenue Protection or those covered through written agreements, may be excluded. Farmers should work directly with their crop insurance agencies to maintain eligibility.
The program is jointly administered by IDALS and the USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA). Now in its ninth year, the initiative has become a model adopted by several other states and by federal partners. Nearly 2,000 farmers have enrolled more than 1.4 million acres in the program to date.
To learn more about conservation and water quality practices in Iowa, visit CleanWaterIowa.org.