Summary of EARP Rule, Expanding Access to Risk Protection

An AI summary of the key points — and especially what changes under the Expanding Access to Risk Protection (EARP) final rule (2025-21482) mean — with particular notes about possible impacts for row-crop producers.

What is EARP

• The rule was issued by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC / Risk Management Agency, RMA) under the US Department of Agriculture.

• It revises the regulations in 7 CFR (Parts 400, 407, 457), covering the Basic Provisions of the main crop-insurance frameworks: Area Risk Protection Insurance (ARPI) and the Common Crop Insurance Policy (CCIP) — as well as various crop-specific provisions.

• The changes implement provisions from the recently enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) plus broader updates: clarifications, simplifications, administrative-burden reductions, and some substantive rule changes.

• The rule becomes effective November 30, 2025. For crops with a “contract change date” on or after that date, the changes apply in the 2026 crop year; for crops with earlier contract change dates, changes take effect beginning the 2027 crop year.

📄 Key Changes Under EARP

Here are the most important changes introduced by the rule:

Expanded support for new / beginning farmers and ranchers

• The definition of “beginning farmer or rancher” is extended: instead of 5 years, now a person can qualify for up to 10 crop years if they have not actively operated a farm/ranch before.

• Additional premium subsidy rates for beginning farmers/ranchers are increased: under the new schedule they get +15 percentage points subsidy in their first two crop years, +13 pp in the 3rd, +11 pp in the 4th, and +10 pp from the 5th through the 10th crop year.

This change makes insurance more affordable for new entrants — an important boost for smaller or beginning row-crop farms.

Clarity and changes to “harvest price” methodology for revenue protection

• For policies providing revenue protection, the “harvest price” (used to calculate indemnities) will — when data are insufficient for the normal, approved methodology — default to the “projected price” (the price set before planting).

• In such cases, the rule also establishes a reimbursement process: producers who paid extra premiums for revenue protection under those circumstances may be eligible for reimbursement.

This should provide more certainty for row-crop growers, especially for crops/markets where price data at harvest may be volatile or sparse.

Reduced administrative burdens: prevented-planting and reporting rules

• The rule removes the “insured” requirement in the “1-in-4” rule for prevented-planting payments. That means producers will no longer need to have had insurance for a certain fraction of prior years to qualify.

• It also removes “buy-up” coverage for prevented planting — previously a 5% extra option for more coverage above the basic prevented-planting coverage was eliminated.

• Additionally, when a farmer switches insurance providers (AIP) and doesn’t file a claim, they are no longer required to provide production reporting data at year's end.

These changes lower paperwork and administrative complexity — likely a benefit to many row-crop farmers, especially those with variable planting conditions or rotating plans.

Administrative and textual clarifications, deregulation of program dates, expanded direct-marketing flexibility

• The rule deregulates “regionalized program dates” by removing them from the general regulations and moving them to the “Special Provisions,” allowing more flexibility across regions.

• It removes regulatory barriers to direct marketing — potentially beneficial for producers selling directly rather than through traditional commodity channels.

• Quality adjustments, claim processes, and other procedural clarifications are incorporated to make settlement and policy terms more transparent.

Given the diversity of row crops (grain, oilseed, veggies, etc.), these clarifications may help simplify insurance management and adapt policies more precisely to the crop & marketing type.

🌾 What It Means for Row-Crop Producers

While the rule mainly targets broad crop-insurance frameworks (ARPI, CCIP) — rather than specifying new rules just for “row crops” — several changes are quite relevant for row-crop operators:

• Easier access for new / small / beginning farmers: the expanded subsidy schedule and longer eligibility window may lower insurance costs and financial barriers for smaller or new row-crop farms.

• More predictable revenue protection: defaulting harvest price to projected price if data are lacking reduces risk from data gaps — potentially important for row crops with volatile or regionalized markets.

• Less administrative burden: simpler prevented-planting coverage, less reporting when moving between insurers, clearer rules — all reduce overhead and complexity. This may especially help grain or oilseed growers who manage many acres or fields.

• Better flexibility for direct-market or specialty row crops: if you grow less-common or specialty row crops, or sell directly (e.g., local markets, CSA), the direct-marketing flexibility and deregulated dates may help align insurance with your actual growing/marketing calendar.

• Considerations on prevented planting buy-up removal: the removal of the 5% “buy-up” prevented-planting option could reduce the maximum indemnity for farms in high-risk areas (e.g., heavy flood / planting-delay risk). That may be a disadvantage if you farm in such a risk-prone region.

⚠️ What Farmers Should Watch For

• The rule does not create new types of coverage for specific crops across the board. Rather, it modifies the structure and eligibility for existing insurance models (ARPI, CCIP) and some crop-specific provisions.

• Effects will vary by crop, region, and individual situations: e.g., whether data exist for proper harvest-price calculation, the local prevented-planting risk, marketing type, etc.

• Some crop-specific changes are mentioned (e.g., for fresh-market vegetables, safflower, canola/rapeseed, sugar beets, etc.) — but row-crop growers need to review the changes relevant to their specific crop and state’s “Special Provisions.”

• Because this is a final rule with a comment period until January 27, 2026, there remains a possibility of further amendments if significant stakeholder feedback arises.