It seems as though the One Big Beautiful Bill Act contained a little something for everyone, including farmers. That includes changes to some significant farm bill components, such as crop insurance products like the Enhanced Coverage Option and Supplemental Coverage Option.
Changes include increasing the premium support rate from 65% to 80% for ECO/SCO in 2026 and increasing the coverage level for SCO from 86% to 90% in 2027, according to University of Illinois professor Nick Paulson, speaking at a recent Farmdoc webinar.
“These changes are pretty key for almost all row crop farmers in the Midwest,” he said, adding that every farm should at least consider adding SCO and/or ECO in 2026.
For starters, the new subsidy rate of SCO and ECO implies an expected return of 340% on your premiums. “That’s a pretty good return,” Paulson said, invoking a bit of dry humor.
But the usual caveat regarding insurance remains: The expected return is an average over a period of several years. In some years you won’t trigger an indemnity. In other words, no crop loss means no insurance payout.
Here are four more reasons to consider ECO/SCO this year.
- Broader protection. These products provide additional coverage for county-level losses, which can complement any individual policies you might have.
- Affordable premiums. As noted, the premiums include subsidies that make the products more affordable compared to other insurance options. “In addition to the risk benefits, with the high subsidy rates, farmers should through time earn a positive return on using them,” Paulson said. ECO previously came with a 44% subsidy (meaning farmers paid 56% of the premium cost). SCO had a 65% subsidy. For 2026, both of those subsidies increased to 80%.
- Flexibility. ECO, for instance, now offers coverage levels of up to 95%. That can be particularly useful in years that feature high input costs or volatile markets. (Sound familiar?)
- Risk management. Because ECO and SCO are based on county-level yields or revenue performance, if the county as a whole experiences sizable losses, the policies will trigger payments even if your own farm was relatively unaffected.
These decisions can still be difficult, so the University of Illinois developed a tool called the Crop Insurance Payment Calculator. The data is valid for farmers in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota and Ohio. Data for more states may be added in the future.
To use it, farmers enter basic information (state, county, acreage, etc.) and then select various coverage options to learn more about farm-paid premiums, average indemnity payment, frequency of payments and more.
More information on this tool, including real-life examples, can be found at Farmdocdaily.