Case study

Illinois Cover Crop Premium Discount Program (Fall Covers for Spring Savings)

NATURANCE Compendium

Area characterisation:

Terrestrial

Objective:

Discount crop insurance for cover crops

Start/end date:

Financing:

Public

Potential impacts/benefits:

  • 50,000 additional cover crop acres in first season
  • 70% first-time adopters reached
  • Reduced nitrogen and phosphorus runoff into Gulf of Mexico
  • Up to $5/acre premium discount for farmers

Actions:

State programme giving up to US$5 per acre crop-insurance premium discount for verified cover-crop acres, funding up to 190,000 acres to cut nutrient runoff into the Gulf of Mexico.

Organisations:

American Farmland Trust, Illinois Corn Growers, Illinois Stewardship Alliance, the Association of Soil & Water Conservation Districts, The Nature Conservancy, Delta Institute, Prairie Rivers Network, the Izaak Walton League, Illinois Environmental Council, the Illinois Department of Agriculture, USDA's Risk Management Agency

Contacts:

Case study referred by UNEP FI. For more information, please contact: info@naturance.eu.

The Illinois Department of Agriculture Cover Crop Premium Discount Program promotes additional acres of cover crops not covered by other state and federal program incentives. Eligible applicants receive a premium discount up to $5 per acre on the following year's crop insurance for every cover crop acre enrolled and verified in the program. The inaugural season resulted in an additional 50,000 acres of cover crops planted, with 70% of applicants identified as planting cover crops for the first time.
The 2025-2026 program will fund up to 190,000 acres, with 40,000 acres funded by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency via Gulf Hypoxia Funding. Illinois is one of the leading contributors to the Gulf of Mexico's dead zone, a barren area of around 4,500 square miles deadly to fish, shrimp and other marine life. The Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy recognises cover crops as one of the most effective in-field management strategies to stem the loss of nitrate-nitrogen and total phosphorus from corn-soybean fields.

Sustainable Development Goals:

  • 13. Climate action

  • 15. Life on land

  • 17. Partnerships for the goals

Publications and reports: