The Illinois Department of Agriculture Cover Crop Premium Discount Program promotes additional acres of cover crops not covered by other state and federal program incentives. Eligible applicants receive a premium discount up to $5 per acre on the following year’s crop insurance for every cover crop acre enrolled and verified in the program. The inaugural season resulted in an additional 50,000 acres of cover crops planted, with 70% of applicants identified as planting cover crops for the first time.
The 2025-2026 program will fund up to 190,000 acres, with 40,000 acres funded by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency via Gulf Hypoxia Funding. Illinois is one of the leading contributors to the Gulf of Mexico’s dead zone, a barren area of around 4,500 square miles deadly to fish, shrimp and other marine life. The Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy recognises cover crops as one of the most effective in-field management strategies to stem the loss of nitrate-nitrogen and total phosphorus from corn-soybean fields.
