March wrapped up conversations around crop insurance for the 2025 growing year. Derek Clayton, an agent with Porter Hay Insurance, shares that one program he saw farmers take advantage of was the enhanced coverage option or ECO.
“[ECO] has been around for a few years, but this year, the subsidy was increased, so there was more of an incentive for people to purchase it. You can purchase coverage up to 95%, so under your own policy, you can buy coverage up to 85%, but with this program, which I would consider an add-on, you can purchase up to 90 to 95% based upon the county expected revenue,” says Clayton. “What we did see is spring price was established about $4.70, and when we got to the end of the month, that was when the tariff volatility occurred, and we were starting to see that price drop pretty quick.”
Clayton adds interest in higher-level protection programs such as ECO was fueled by market volatility.
