Sponsors (7)
The bill broadens and simplifies insurance access for small, diversified, and underserved producers and speeds some payments, but does so at the cost of higher federal spending, implementation strain, privacy and fraud risks, and basis/eligibility gaps that may leave some farmers without adequate protection.
Small, diversified, direct-to-consumer, beginning, limited‑resource, socially disadvantaged, and veteran producers gain easier access to crop insurance through simplified enrollment (Schedule F acceptance), a voluntary revenue-based on‑ramp with premium discounts, micro‑farm/specialty plan expansions, and targeted outreach.
Producers can get faster assistance and lower paperwork burden via two annual acreage reports, remote/field appraisals, reduced paperwork and index-based payments required within 30 days of a covered event, improving cash flow after losses.
A single nationwide index policy (available across all 50 states, territories, and tribes) and flexible buy‑up/buy‑down options expand baseline insurance availability and let producers better match coverage to their business by choosing coverage levels up to 150% or down to 5% in 5% increments.
Expanded eligibility, premium discounts, outreach, and new program features will raise federal program costs and could increase budgetary pressures or require offsets funded by taxpayers.
Index‑based coverage creates basis risk: some farmers may suffer real, farm‑level income losses but receive no payout if the county/index threshold isn’t triggered.
Accepting Schedule F as primary revenue documentation and broader, simpler enrollment increases the risk of inaccurate reporting or improper payments, exposing the program and taxpayers to potential fraud or overpayments.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Expands NAP data sharing and creates a streamlined revenue-based on-ramp to Whole-Farm insurance; mandates annual reviews of insurable revenue limits and directs development of a national weather-index policy.
Official title: To amend the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 to assist farmers relying on the noninsured crop disaster assistance program by lowering the cost of purchasing coverage, reducing paperwork burdens, and increasing payouts under that program, and to incentivize farmers to transition gradually to a comprehensive insurance policy under the whole farm risk management insurance plan by offering progressive premium discounts on a commitment to purchase a whole farm plan of insurance.
Introduced March 27, 2025 by Jahana Hayes · Last progress March 27, 2025
Expands and changes federal crop-loss programs to better serve small, diverse, and direct-to-consumer producers. It requires more coordination and public data sharing between the Farm Service Agency and the Risk Management Agency, creates a streamlined application and revenue-based coverage on-ramp from the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program to Whole-Farm Revenue Protection, adds mandatory review and reporting requirements for insurable revenue limits, and directs development of a national, weather-indexed single-index insurance policy with rapid payments and simplified paperwork. The bill makes some previously discretionary authorities mandatory, adds a resource-conserving crop-rotation requirement for certain whole-farm participation, requires annual Corporation reviews and reports to congressional agriculture committees, and tasks the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation with research, stakeholder consultation, and a one-year public report on a new weather-index insurance product available across all U.S. states and territories.