Farmers will be seeing significant enhancements to crop insurance for the 2026 growing season. The One Big Beautiful Bill included improvements to the area-based coverage. That includes additional premium support for the Supplemental Coverage Option and Enhanced Coverage Option. Watts and Associates Head of Crop Insurance Development Kyle Jore sees this as a critical update to the risk management plan. “We’ve had really good crop insurance participation at the individual level, but a lot of people will buy up to the 75, 80 percent range. These area-based coverages have been increasing with pretty strong participation in the South Dakota region, but in Minnesota and North Dakota, not quite as much. Hopefully, this will make it significantly more affordable and encourage more farmers to purchase these products.” Jore said a new crop insurance product called the Margin Coverage Option will be available for ’26.
