SCO And ECO Insurance Coverage A Viable Option For 2026

As has been often said with farming “every year is different”, and many times decisions for the current crop year are based on what happened in the previous year or two. That could be the scenario in some cases with considering the Enhanced Coverage Option (ECO) and Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) insurance coverage options for 2026. ECO insurance has been around for several years but was not considered on a widespread basis due to the relatively high premium rates for ECO coverage and limitations for SCO coverage. That scenario has now changed due to much lower premium rates and fewer limitations on SCO coverage. This makes SCO and ECO a much more viable crop insurance option as part of an overall risk management package in 2026. The deadline to enroll in crop insurance for corn and soybeans in 2026 is March 16. 

NEW FOR 2026 
The Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) coverage will be available to producers that choose the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) and the Ag Risk Coverage (ARC-CO) farm program options for the 2026 crop year. So the farm program choice will not impact SCO insurance coverage decisions, as it did previously. SCO coverage allows producers to purchase additional county-level crop insurance coverage up to a maximum of 86 percent coverage in 2026, which will increase to 90 percent coverage in 2027. For example, a producer that purchases an 80% RP policy for corn or soybeans could purchase an additional 6% SCO coverage in 2026. 
The Enhanced Coverage Option (ECO) provides area-based insurance coverage from 86 percent up to 95 percent coverage, with producers having a choice between 90 or 95 percent ECO coverage. The purchase of ECO coverage is not linked to farm program enrollment. Producers can utilize both ECO and SCO together, in addition to their underlying RP, RPE, or YP insurance policy; however, farmers do not have to purchase SCO coverage in order to purchase ECO insurance. 
The Federal government has increased the premium subsidies for both SCO and ECO coverage for 2026, which should make premiums more reasonable for crop insurance coverage options that include these products. Both the 90 percent and 95 percent ECO insurance coverage options will have a premium subsidy of 80% in 2026, which is the as the premium subsidy for SCO coverage. (This is a correction from last week’s column dated 1-26-26.) In 2025, the ECO coverage options had a premium subsidy of 65%, which was increased from a 44 percent premium subsidy in 2024. This is in addition to the premium subsidy increases of 3-5 percent on most farm-level revenue protection (RP) crop insurance policies for 2026. The increase in the premium subsidy in 2025 resulted in 61.8 million acres being insured under ECO coverage in 2025, as compared to only 15.6 million acres under ECO policies in 2024. With the additional premium subsidy up to 80 percent for the 2026 crop year, we will likely see another increase in the number of corn and soybean acres insured by ECO coverage in 2026. 

HOW ECO AND SCO INSURANCE COVERAGE FUNCTION 
ECO and SCO are county revenue-based insurance products that are somewhat similar to the area risk protection crop insurance products. The calculations for ECO and SCO function very similarly to standard revenue protection (RP) insurance policies, utilizing the same crop insurance Spring price and harvest price as RP policies. The 2026 crop insurance Spring (base) price is based on the average Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) prices for December corn futures and November soybean futures during the month of February. The Spring price estimates (as of 2-02-26) are near $4.50 per bushel for corn and $10.75 per bushel for soybeans. The harvest price for SCO and ECO coverage, as well as RP policies, is the average price of the same CBOT futures months during the month of October. Producers can utilize both ECO and SCO insurance coverage together, in addition to their underlying RP, RPE, or YP insurance policy. The biggest difference from most RP insurance policies is that ECO and SCO utilize county level average yields, rather than the farm-level APH yields that are used for RP policies. 
Based on the current Spring price estimates of $4.50 for corn and $10.75 for soybeans, crop producers can guarantee a market price of $3.83 per bushel for corn and $9.14 per bushel for soybeans with an 85% RP insurance policy. However, the market price guarantee increases to $4.28 per bushel for corn and $10.22 per bushel for soybeans, when adding SCO coverage and a 95% ECO policy, utilizing county yields, together with the underlying RP policy. These price guarantee estimates assume that the final 2026 harvest yield is the same as the APH yield on the farm., and the final 2026 county average yield is the same as the original county average yield. Any variations in the final harvest yield at the farm-level or with the county average yield, either up down from the farm-level APH yield or the original county average yield, will cause these price guarantees to vary. 
Due to the difference in county and farm-level yields, the calculations for SCO and ECO policies may function differently than the underlying RP policies. It is possible for a producer to collect on an individual RP policy, but not collect on a SCO or ECO policy, or vice versa. For example, a producer with an 85% RP policy may have a loss that qualifies for an insurance indemnity payment on a farm unit, while the county as a whole may not meet the threshold to qualify for a SCO or ECO payment. It could also be possible to collect a SCO or ECO payment for a county-level revenue loss, while not qualifying for a RP insurance indemnity payment at the individual farm-level. 

BOTTOM-LINE ON ECO AND SCO INSURANCE COVERAGE OPTIONS 
In 1989, corn and soybean producers could only insure up to 75 percent of their crop guarantee (APH yield times the Spring crop insurance price), and the federal premium subsidy was only 30 percent. This made crop insurance fairly expensive for the risk protection that was provided. In 2026, farmers can insure up to 85 percent of their crop insurance guarantee, based on trend-adjusted (TA) farm level yields. Premium subsidies are now 41 percent for 85 percent coverage, 51 percent for 80 percent coverage, and 60 percent for 75 percent coverage. In addition, farmers can now insure up to 90 or 95 percent of the insurance guarantee, utilizing county average crop yields above their farm-level coverage. Farmers can now carry 95 percent insurance coverage at a net premium cost that is likely lower than the premium cost for 75 percent coverage back in 1989. 
The added premium subsidies make the higher crop insurance coverage levels available through SCO and ECO policies much more affordable for 2026. The enhancements to SCO and ECO coverage allow farmers to reduce risk and insure a higher percentage of their expected 2026 crop production at a reasonable premium cost. Many crop insurance companies have combined SCO and ECO coverage with other private insurance buy-up policies to offer some very attractive insurance options for 2026. Utilizing SCO and ECO coverage, together with a sound Revenue Protection (RP) policy on individual farm yields, an provide an excellent risk management package. 
Farmers should contact their crop insurance agent for details, premium quotes, and spreadsheets on various crop insurance coverage options, including ECO and SCO. 
Kent Thiesse, Farm Management Analyst, has prepared an information sheet titled: “2026 Crop Insurance Decisions” that contains more details on SCO and ECO insurance coverage, along with tables showing SCO and ECO examples. To request a free copy of this information sheet, send an e-mail to: [email protected] 
Some other good crop insurance resources include: Ø U of Illinois FarmDoc website - https://farmdoc.illinois.edu/ Ø Kansas State University - https://agmanager.info/ Ø Iowa State University - https://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/# Ø USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) --- https://www.rma.usda.gov/ 
For additional information contact Kent Thiesse, Farm Management Analyst, Green Solutions Group Phone - (507) 381-7960; E-mail - [email protected]