Varying Crop Insurance Payment Potential for Midwest Producers in 2026

Producers in the Upper Midwest may face varying crop insurance payment potential in 2026 due to differences in regional weather conditions. Areas dealing with severe or extreme drought, as well as excessive rainfall and storms, are more likely to receive indemnity payments.

The final harvest price for corn and soybeans will be higher than the Spring base prices, which were finalized on March 1 at $4.62 per bushel for corn and $11.09 per bushel for soybeans. This means that crop insurance loss calculations for Revenue Protection (RP) policies will function similarly to Yield Protection (YP) policies.

Producers with RP policies having harvest price protection will use the higher harvest price, rather than the Spring base price, for payment calculations. However, those with 'harvest price exclusion' in their RPE policy will calculate revenue using the Spring price and final revenue using the harvest price.

The Supplemental Crop Option (SCO) and Enhanced Coverage Option (ECO) policies may also impact crop insurance payments. These policies use the same Spring and harvest prices as individual crop insurance policies but are based on county average yields rather than individual farm yields.