Crop Insurance

PIA supports the vital role of independent agents in the delivery of crop insurance.

The federal crop insurance program is a highly technical program that relies on the expertise of independent insurance agents. Crop insurance offers our nation’s farmers the ability to manage their risk while continuously providing Americans with a safe, strong, and dependable food supply. The federal crop insurance program requires private-sector insurance carriers to offer insurance to growers who are eligible for coverage and interested in purchasing it.

Unlike insurers in other lines of business, crop insurers do not set premiums. Instead, farmers’ rates are calculated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and, unlike prices for other insurance products, crop insurance prices are consistent across insurers.

Opposing crop insurance cuts

Despite the critical role crop insurance plays in protecting farmers from natural and economic disasters and in supporting rural economies, presidents of both parties have historically tried to cut crop insurance funding using the budget and appropriations process.

PIA routinely works with a coalition of organizations that represent every part of the crop supply chain to protect the funding of the federal crop insurance program. This advocacy is required due to past attempts to cut the program. For example, in 2015, Congress cut $3 billion from the program, but PIA and its allies successfully pushed for a statutory reversal to the cuts. In addition, billions of dollars in cuts to crop insurance have been included in presidential budget requests for most of the last decade.

Cuts to the program compromise the affordability and availability of crop insurance for farmers, seriously undermining the strength of the farm safety net. PIA will continue to work against any attempts to cut crop insurance throughout 2024.

Securing inflation adjustments

As part of the large reconciliation package known as the "One Big Beautiful Bill", an annual administrative and operating (A&O) inflation adjustment for crop agents has been reinstated! The 2011 Standard Reinsurance Agreement (SRA), which is the contract between the federal government and crop insurers, establishes a cap on the A&O expense subsidy, a pool of funds from which crop insurers pay agent commissions. Then, beginning in 2016, the RMA stopped making annual adjustments to the total A&O subsidy cap for inflation, leaving the cap fixed in 2015 dollars, where it remained for nearly a decade. These actions resulted in effective cuts to crop insurance agent commissions, during a historically challenging time for agents.

For years, PIA advocated strongly in favor of the reinstatement of the A&O inflation adjustment, leading bipartisan efforts to bring necessary relief to crop insurance agents. PIA thanks Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA), Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), and Rep. Tracey Mann (R-KS) for their leadership on this important issue.

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For the most up-to-date information on crop insurance and the rest of our advocacy issues, be sure to visit and follow the PIA Advocacy blog, located at www.piaadvocacy.com.