FARGO, N.D. — July 8, 2026 —The Agricultural Risk Policy Center at North Dakota State University has released a new report examining how participation in the Federal Crop Insurance Program (FCIP) has evolved across U.S. agriculture over the past five decades.

The report, Crop Insurance Penetration in the United States, 2025, documents long-run trends in crop insurance adoption using administrative data from the USDA Risk Management Agency. The analysis evaluates national trends in insured acreage, insured liability, and coverage levels while highlighting important differences across commodities, production systems, and geographic regions.

The report finds that crop insurance participation has expanded substantially since the 1970s, with growth occurring in distinct phases tied to major legislative reforms. Premium subsidies, revenue insurance products, supplemental coverage options, and new insurance products have each contributed to increasing participation, resulting in historically high levels of insured acreage and liability nationwide.

While field crops generally represent mature insurance markets with consistently high participation, the report shows that specialty crops continue to exhibit lower and more variable adoption rates. In contrast, forage, rangeland, and pasture insurance has experienced rapid and sustained growth, driven largely by adoption of the Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage Rainfall Index program. The strongest state-level growth has occurred across the Mountain, West, West Central and South Central regions, illustrating how product innovation can influence producer participation.

Beyond documenting national trends, the report establishes a comprehensive empirical baseline for understanding how crop insurance participation differs across crops and regions. The findings provide policymakers, researchers, and industry stakeholders with new insights into the evolution of the nation's agricultural risk management system and opportunities for future program development.

"This report provides one of the most comprehensive assessments to date of how crop insurance participation has evolved across U.S. agriculture," said Dr. Sandro Steinbach, co-author and director of ARPC. "By documenting long-term trends across commodities and regions, the report offers valuable context for understanding how policy changes, product innovation, and producer adoption have shaped today's agricultural risk management landscape."

The full report is available at: https://bit.ly/4p8eYUO

Media Contact:
Agricultural Risk Policy Center (ARPC)
North Dakota State University
arpc@ndsu.edu
www.ndsu.edu/agriculture/arpc